Lib Dem MP Norman Baker has succeeded in forcing the Commons authorities to publish MPs travel claims.
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Top 10 for car hire and taxis expenses:
Richard Bacon (South Norfolk) £5,685, Stephen Dorrell (Con, Charnwood, £4,933), John Thurso (Lib Dem, Caithness, Sutherland & Easter Ross, £4,717), John Grogan (Lab, Selby, £4,063), Nigel Evans (Con, Ribble Valley £3,430) and Diane Abbott (Lab, Hackney North & Stoke Newington £2,235.
Top 10 for car mileage: Janet anderson 16,612, Laurence Robertson (Con, Tewkesbury, £12,015), Stephen O’Brien (Con, Eddisbury, £9,878), Mr Joyce (£9,647), Daniel Kawczynski (Con, Shrewsbury & Atcham, £8,866), Barry Sheerman (Lab, Huddersfield, £8,613) and Sir Stuart Bell (Lab, Middlesbrough, £8,436).
Top 10 for air travels: Carmichael 34,347, Joyce (£30,578), Angus MacNeil (SNP, Western Isles, £19,919), Gregory Campbell (DUP, East Londonderry, £17,733), Peter Robinson (DUP, Belfast East, £16,126), Mohammad Sarwar (Lab, Glasgow Central, £15,260), Viscount Thurso (£14,710), David Simpson (DUP, Upper Bann, £14,690) and Danny Alexander (Lib Dem, Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch & Strathspey, £14,625).
Top 10 for rail tickets: Alan Milburn 16,782, John Grogan (£13,934), Ann Cryer (Lab, Keighley, £12,668), Gerald Kaufman (Lab, Manchester Gorton, £12,434), Phil Willis (Lib Dem, Harrogate & Knaresborough, £11,753), Louise Ellman (Lab, Liverpool Riverside, £11,608), Stephen Hepburn (Lab, Jarrow, £11,273), George Howarth (Lab, Knowsley North & Sefton East, £11,088) and Derek Twigg (Lab, Halton, £11,025).
Top 10 cycling expenses: Jeremy Corbyn (Lab, Islington North, £230), Mary Creagh (Lab, Wakefield, £230), James Arbuthnot (Con, North East Hampshire, £176), Bernard Jenkin (Con, North Essex, £72), Sir John Butterfill (Con, Bournemouth West, £50), Rob Marris (Lab, Wolverhampton South West, £36), Hugh Bayley (Lab, City of York, £31), Tom Brake (Lib Dem, Carshalton & Wallington, £16), Andrew George (Lib Dem, St Ives, £9) and Ed Vaizey (Con, Wantage, £8).
The air travel expenses are not surprising as they’re all from North Ireland or Scotland).
No Cameron in the cycling expenses
Well done Norman Baker for proving that MPs are not ‘all the same’ on this sort of thing.
Eric Joyce’s travel expenses are unfathomable.
He has a Scottish central belt constituency the perimeter of which is approximately a 32 mile road journey. The centre of the constituency is a 40 mile round-trip from Edinburgh International Airport.
At 40p per mile his claim equates to 24,000 miles – which would enable a tour round the constituency and a return trip to the airport every single day of the year.
At a generous £400 return air ticket to Heathrow his additional air travel claim equates to 75 return flights.
Am I missing something? I haven’t allowed for airport parking and family-member travel, I suppose – but how much can that have been?
It makes no sense at all.
Diane Abbott claimed over £2000 for taxi’s! to get to the few miles from Hackney to Westminster. Or does she need the taxi’s to get her around to the TV studio’s for her primary job. Just how are the people of Hackney getting value for money for their MP?
“Diane Abbott claimed over £2000 for taxi’s! to get to the few miles from Hackney to Westminster”
I’m under the impression that travel expenses don’t just cover constituency to Westminster and back trips, but other parliamentary bussiness (as Simon Hughes claims air expenses and he certainly doesn’t use a plane to reach his constituency from Westminster!). So it would be interesting to know if Diane Abbott’s expenses are all for Hackney to Westminster travels or if something else is included.
It transpires that “taxi” figure might be wrong and includes other use of “3rd party cars”.
I only sort of half caught this on Newsnight just now so might have some of the details wrong
One relies on official information at one’s peril.
I recall the case of a Lib Dem who was threatened with a writ by a Tory MP and serving councillor whom the Lib Dem had claimed had failed to attend X No of council meetings.
Wrong. The Tory MP had attended the meetings in question, but had neglected to sign the Register.