MPs "snouts in the trough" as their expenses bills top £87.6m

By Jayne Warren - 06/11/2007

MPs totted up £87.6m in expenses in the last financial year - a "like for like" rise of about 5% on the previous year. Why? Such vast expenditure - financed by OURSELVES - comes amid cuts in NHS services, increases in Council Tax, and falling disposable incomes for the person on the street - and pensioners in particular.

Surely MPs' expenditure should be checked by - or at least be made public to - those who finance it? Any normal company would have a lid on expenses - and all spending would be answerable to shareholders, Directors etc.

The exhorbitant figures average out at about £135,600 an MP. And that is on top of their basic salary of £59,686 and pension. Gordon Brown, then chancellor, Tory leader David Cameron and then Lib Dem leader Sir Menzies Campbell's claims were all around the average - at £135,525, £143,385 and £142,810 respectively.

Is it any wonder that he doesn't have a clue how the average pensioner has to struggle to live? And in an act of what I can only describe as gross insensitivity and stupidity, Nick Harvey MP, who is on the members' estimate committee, said taxpayers got "excellent value for money". He said: "As well as playing a vital role in the House of Commons in debates, law making and scrutiny, MPs have to undertake frequent journeys between the constituency and Westminster and elsewhere.

"They also have to ensure that offices are fully staffed and properly equipped and provide the level of support and communication increasingly expected and demanded by constituents."

So? How is that different from any other buisness? Lose the limos and get an economic car or use a bicycle more often - like Boris Johnson. Staff offices sensibly like any other business does. Cut overheads on wastage and doubling up and mindless, pointless form filling. Employ people who are efficient and capable. Drop the expensive lunch accounts. It's OUR money you're spending, after all.

Labour Minister Shahid Malik - who represents a constituency in West Yorkshire - claimed the most expenses at £185,421. And £21,000 of that was spent on postage alone. Postage? And fellow minister Liam Byrne was the next highest spender at £178,116.

Matthew Elliott, head of pressure group the TaxPayers' Alliance, said while families and especially older people are struggling to pay higher tax bills, including Council Tax, MPs were spending "more and more of our money on themselves each year". He added: "No wonder voters have little respect for politicians when they see so many MPs with their snouts in the trough."

The previous year's total came to £86.8m, but was inflated by the general election as "winding up" payments were made to departing MPs. On a like-for-like basis, the increase amounts to about 5%. If only pensions had gone up by 5%, eh?