How much cash has your MP trousered?
How much has your MP claimed in expenses? If your local democratically elected representative has not yet been fingered by The Daily Telegraph, you can now view your MP’s claims from 2004/05 to 2007/08 here. Well, sort of. Because the important stuff has been blacked out, so you’ll need to wait for the Telegraph to get around to rooting through the uncensored version to find out about second home flipping and other sorts of top-level skullduggery.
But what is clear is the general day-to-day, or month-to-month, liberties taken by many of these people. MPs are entitled to claim up to £400 per month for food and £250 per month for petty cash without providing receipts. My MP, for the Blaydon constituency, is David Anderson. A look at his forms suggests that he claimed the maximum £400 and £250 every single month, on top of a hefty claim for mortgage interest.
Do the extra food costs as a result of travelling to and working in London really add up to £400 per month? And what does the £250 petty cash cover, considering he claims separately for things such as office stationery and taxi fares?
Could it be that Anderson has trousered the maximum amount possible, not because he needed it, but because he knew he could get away with it? Or because he thought he could get away with it?
On matters of transparency of Parliament, Anderson has almost always been absent from votes. In July 2008 he voted against a motion to create external audits and ban claims for furniture. Anderson had a personal interest in this as he has claimed for furniture. The motion was rejected. This April, in what looks like something of a turnaround, he voted for registration and declaration of expenses. This information is from the excellent TheyWorkForYou.com.
No doubt Anderson, like other MPs, will blame the system. The system is undoubtedly rotten, but no-one forced him to take advantage of it. Taking candy from a baby is easy, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you should do it.
