Each MP costs the public purse £270,000 a year

MPS each cost the taxpayer over £270,000 a year, government figures show. The total cost of MPS – including salaries, staffing spend and expenses – was £182million in 2017-18, according to a report by the Institute For Government (IFG) think tank.

Of the £270,000, about 10 per cent is spent annually on each MP’S security. In the past year, Parliament has stepped up its security spending in the wake of last May’s terror attack.

The overall figure on MP costs, however, makes up less than a third of the total cost of running Parliament.

The total amount the taxpayer spends on Parliament as a whole is more than half a billion pounds, and includes spending on committees, the salaries of peers, the Electoral Commission and other running costs.

The £550million total figure is less than the taxpayer cost of running some government departments.

This is the first year the IFG’S comprehensive study of the cost of Parliament has been carried out.

Meanwhile, peers claimed more than £18million in allowances and expenses. On average, 484 peers, out of a total of more than 800, attend the Lords each day. They can claim an “attendance allowance” for each day that they come to sittings of the Lords.

However, the plan to cut the number of MPS from 650 to 600 would not make a substantial saving, according to the IFG. This month, the Boundary Commission is due to present its final recommendations following reviews of the current electoral boundaries.