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MP is prudent over claimimg expenses

Katrina McKeever
31/10/2007

WILMSLOW’S MP and Shadow Chancellor George Osborne has kept a tight reign on the purse strings again this year.

The member for Tatton claimed £146,158 in expenses during the last financial year up to March 2007.

His expenses bill crept up by £4,606 on the previous year’s accounts, which saw him claim £141,552.

He said: "I am always careful about how I use the Parliamentary allowances - because I always remember that it is taxpayers’ money.

"I use every penny of the office and salary allowances to employ hard-working staff who help residents in Wilmslow and across the constituency with their problems.

"And as Shadow Chancellor I am paid the same as any backbench MP."

Mr Osborne’s main expense for 2006/7 was staff and office running costs.

He spent £89,049 on wages during the year and £18,359 on office running costs with £5,255 on stationery and £1,115 on IT costs.

The cost of staying away from his main home in Notting Hill on parliamentary business came to £22,026 with a total of £9,480 spent on travel.

But the Shadow Chancellor, famed for cycling to work, kept his green credentials by using public transport.

He claimed £2,142 for car journeys compared to £6,188 on rail fares, with air travel costing £1,150 for the year.

It places him outside the top ten North West claimers, with the most expensive MP title going to Oldham’s Phil Woolas, who filed a claim for £157,062.

But his receipts exceeded the region’s cheapest MP by far, Macclesfield’s Sir Nick Winterton, who claimed just £95,949.

Nick Harvey MP, spokesman for the members estimate committee, said compared to parliamentarians in other countries, common’s MPs represent 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.

"The use of the allowances, while fulfilling these obligations is governed by published rules and subject to careful scrutiny."