How much did your MP spend on expenses in their first nine months in office? The recent figures show how much was spent by each Westminster representative
Few things can aggravate taxpayers – or anyone – more than MPs indulging in expenses adding to the image of politicians milking the state to pad their lifestyle.
So it may come as welcome that so far it does not appear that any of the north of Scotland’s four MPs indulged in an orgy of claims.
But it is less than nine full months between the July 4 general election and the end of the financial year so the full level of claims are unlikely to be visible yet.
That said Liberal Democrats Jamie Stone and Angus Macdonald and the SNP’s Graham Leadbitter and Seamus Logan all tally between £12,000 and £34,000.
What should be made clear is that the expenses allowed for MPs’ Standard non-London area budget is high above those figures and is frequently met.
So for example, the budget allowable for MPs offices including payroll is above £235,000 while accommodation and travel easily reaches into the tens of thousands.
Working from north to south, Jamie Stone has been the Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross MP since 2017 and has the largest expenses of £34,204 so far.
That is accounted for by the fact that he was the only MP returned to parliament so consequently his office and accommodation costs continued.
For the period, Mr Stone’s accommodation came to £16,895.46, office rental costs totalled £17,309 while rental came to £7750 while utilities made up £3325.
All the others like his Highland colleague Angus MacDonald were freshly elected so they had to locate and rent office and accommodation in London.
The Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire MP, Mr MacDonald, tallied the lowest expenses so far despite having to make his way from Lochaber to London for parliamentary business – not the cheapest route.
Between accommodation (£1,946), office (£5,551) and staffing costs (£5,411) Mr MacDonald’s expenses reached £12,909.
MP Graham Leadbitter represents Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey was a little higher at £13,575 for accommodation (£6,533), office (£6,945) and staff (£96).
Finally, Seamus Logan for Aberdeenshire North and Moray East had expenses of £14,608 – accommodation (£8,592.99) including £1,346 on hotels.
His office costs reached £6,015.66 mostly for rent of £3,960 and software and applications that hit £2,040.
