Average MP now costs you £240k a year

TAXPAYeRS are forking out nearly £240,000 on average to fund their MP, figures show.

Members of Parliament claimed expenses and allowances of £157,747 on average last year – up an inflation-busting 6.5 per cent on the year before.

This is on top of the basic MP’s salary of £81,932 – adding up to £239,679.

The total claimed in expenses and allowances in 2020/21 was £127.6million, Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority figures analysed by the TaxPayers’ Alliance show.

This was up from £119.9million in 2018/19 and included £5.6million for food and travel – or £6,903 per MP – and £718,733 on hotel stays.

The figures showed the Speaker, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, is the most expensive sitting MP. He claimed £259,057, including £21,431 on travel and subsistence, last year.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock was the most expensive Cabinet member, with total costs of £225,305. This compared with £174,454 for Boris Johnson and £164,545 for Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer.

On average, MPs in the Cabinet cost £177,246, compared with £196,321 for a member of the shadow cabinet. MPs’ allowances include staffing and office costs, as well as expenses such as travel and food.

The most expensive MP was Roger Godsiff, Labour MP for Birmingham Hall Green, who stepped down last year. He spent £265,668.

Alistair Carmichael, the Lib Dem MP for Orkney and Shetland, claimed the most for travel and subsistence with £51,244.

Four Nationalist MPs feature in the top ten list of those who claimed the most.

Of MPs representing Scottish constituencies, Dr Lisa Cameron, MP for east Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow, claimed the highest total, at £256,040.

Argyll and Bute MP Brendan O’Hara, claimed £245,708, followed by Dundee West MP Chris Law (£245,133).

The SNP’s Westminster leader and MP for Ross, Skye and Lochaber, Ian Blackford, claimed £243,275.

Around 98 MPs (12 per cent of the total) chose to stay in hotels when in London last year. A total of £718,733 was spent on hotel claims as part of the MPs’ accommodation budget.

Overall, the sum spent on office costs by MPs rose by 4 per cent to £12.9million. Staffing costs fell to £90million.

John O’Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: ‘While MPs must have the resources to do their jobs, many taxpayers will be worried about the growing cost of politics.

‘With the economy and public finances in such dire straits, limiting their expenses claims where possible would be a welcome way for MPs to show that we’re all in it together.’

Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority interim chairman Richard Lloyd said coronavirus had a ‘significant impact’ on both its work and that of MPs and their staff.

He said compliance with the watchdog’s rules remained ‘very high, at 99.97 per cent’.