SNP EXPENSES GRAVY TRAIN
MPs slated for claiming record allowances – and bonuses for staff
NATIONALIST MPs were yesterday accused of ‘milking the system’ at Westminster after spending eye-watering sums on expenses and bonuses. Alex salmond claimed more in travel costs than any other MP in the UK, by running up an extraordinary £48,471 bill in the year since his election in May 2015.
Eight of the top ten largest travel claims across the UK were from Nationalist MPs – despite Nicola sturgeon claiming in last year’s General Election campaign that her politicians would ‘shake up the Westminster establishment’.
some of them are spending five times more on travel than the people they replaced in the job when the sNP won 56 of scotland’s 59 seats at Westminster last year.
It also emerged that Nationalist MPs handed their staff taxpayer-funded bonuses worth £52,000 – in addition to their normal salary.
Many of the MPs appear to regularly fly business class at a cost of several hundreds of pounds a trip, despite the wide variety of cheap tickets normally on offer between london and scotland.
A scottish labour spokesman said: ‘These figures show sNP MPs are milking the system for all it is worth and taking taxpayers for a ride.
‘These huge increases in expenses claims are seeing some Nationalist MPs claiming five times more than their predecessors. Nicola sturgeon should order an internal audit of her MPs’ spending at the taxpayers’ expense. At a time where local services are facing hundreds of millions of pounds of cuts her MPs are living the high life.’
The new figures, published yesterday
by the parliamentary expenses watchdog Ipsa – the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority – show that Mr Salmond’s £48,471 travel bill included £17,332 in flights for himself, mostly between Aberdeen Airport and London City.
He also spent £16,007 on flights for his staff.
By contrast, Mr Salmond’s predecessor in the Gordon constituency, Liberal Democrat MP Malcolm Bruce, spent only £13,202 in total over the previous year.
Western Isles MP Angus MacNeil had the second-highest travel bill, at £47,899, followed by Paul Monaghan, who represents
‘Creaming off vast quantities’
Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, at £44,181.
Mr Monaghan also had the third-highest overall expenses bill across the UK, coming in at £213,877.
While it is normal for the MPs who represent more remote constituencies to claim more in travel, Central Belt MP Steven Paterson, who represents Stirling, claimed the fifth highest travel bill, at £41,506.
This compares to just £8,462 by his Labour predecessor Anne McGuire in 2014/15.
Mr Paterson – who was forced to pay back £40 that he had claimed for a dog sitter – ran up a total bill of £202,641 last year – making him the tenth most expensive MP.
It was also revealed yesterday that Nationalist MPs paid out £52,195 in bonuses to staff – which is nearly half of the total cost of ‘rewards and recognitions’ payments paid to MPs’ staff across the UK.
Mr Salmond lavished £10,000 of taxpayer-funded bonuses on his staff, while Glasgow South MP Stewart McDonald handed out £9,550 of rewards, including the single largest bonus of £3,000.
John Nicolson, a former broadcaster and the Nationalist MP for East Dunbartonshire, handed out £7,000 to staff in extra bonuses.
Ipsa said that MPs were allowed to pay a ‘modest’ bonus as long as it was out of their staffing budget and was for ‘exceptional’ work.
Eben Wilson, director of the TaxpayerScotland pressure group, said: ‘The cost of politics is becoming outrageous.
‘Our political elite are creaming off vast quantities of taxpayers’ money for no apparent valuable purpose.
‘We know they have to travel but, as regular travellers acting on our behalf, there is an imperative to act economically, otherwise they are indulging themselves in the playground of the rich that Brexit and Donald Trump have shown offends many of us.
‘The cost for Scots of the secessionist dream is clearly high when Westminster is used as a punchbag for separatist opinion. Is that really fair and equal?’
Responding over his expenses costs, Mr Salmond said: ‘Given the distance between my constituency and London, I incur significant costs in travelling to attend Parliament.
‘These costs are sometimes increased by last minute changes to Parliament’s business.
‘I have also incurred costs in paying for accommodation in London, where I stay when I attend sittings of Parliament.’
A spokesman for the SNP said: ‘While Scottish Labour MPs were all but nearly wiped out at the last General Election, SNP MPs have consistently worked harder than their predecessors with higher attendance rates in the House of Commons.
‘The expenses include staff travel costs as well as MP travel to ensure constituents are better represented in Westminster, and the expenses of Scottish Labour’s only MP are actually higher this year than last.’
In relation to bonuses, the SNP spokesman added: ‘SNP MPs pay their staff in line with Ipsa’s rules.’
A spokesman for Ipsa said: ‘MPs can pay modest reward and recognition payments to a member of staff for excellent performance.
‘These payments come from their staffing budget. MPs cannot make a payment to a connected party.
‘The level of reward and recognition payments is left to the individual MP’s discretion. In 2015-16 payments were made by 58 MPs.’