Milton Keynes' two MPs cost taxpayers a combined £428,000 last year

Milton Keynes' two MPs cost the taxpayer a combined sum of around £428,000 last year, new figures reveal.

Milton Keynes South MP Iain Stewart incurred costs of around £182,000 while Milton Keynes North MP Ben Everitt cost the taxpayer around £246,000.

Figures from the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority show Iain Stewart's total business costs for the 2020-21 financial year were £181,921.29, with Ben Everitt's costs totalling £245,864.34.

Mr Everitt's costs were up from £32,151.55 the year before, and well above the average for all Members of Parliament, of £203,880.

Costs claimed by Mr Stewart were down from £189,841.32 the year before.

By comparison, Darren Henry, a fellow Tory MP for Broxtowe, raked up costs of £280,900 last year, while Philip Hollobone, the member for Kettering, just £80,700.

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Scotland Iain Stewart, who was elected in May 2010, spent £159,200 on office running costs in 2020-21, including £141,100 on staff wages and £18,100 on other office expenditures.

And he spent all of his accommodation budget (£20,100), and a further £2,600 on travel and subsistence.

Ben Everitt, who was elected in December 2019, spent £205,400 on office running costs in 2020-21, including £179,000 on staff wages and £26,500 on other office expenditures.

And he spent £37,400 of his accommodation budget (of £39,300), and a further £3,100 on travel and subsistence.

The total costs of MPs last year rose by 4%, to £132.5 million, with almost £300,000 going on hotel claims for just 49 members – including Iain Stewart.

Business costs are the essential costs incurred by MPs while carrying out their parliamentary duties including staffing, office costs and travel.

MPs cannot claim for personal costs, such as food and drink, during their normal working day, and all claims must be compliant with IPSA rules and accompanied by evidence.

IPSA’s chairman, Richard Lloyd, said compliance with the rules was at 99.7% last year.

He added: “By far the largest area of spending is to pay for the salaries of MPs’ staff.

"In the last financial year MPs and their staff changed how they work to provide their constituents with a service during the pandemic.

“We enabled MPs’ staff to work from home, while the amount spent on parliamentary business travel fell to reflect different working patterns."

The IPSA figures also reveal the 193 individual claims made by Iain Stewart in 2020-21, with the most expensive single claim being for staff payroll – £141,106.81.

At the other end of the scale, the smallest one-off expense the 49-year-old claimed was £1.06 for stationery and printing.

The average cost of an MP was up 29%, from £158,103, in 2019-20.

Kit Malthouse was the most expensive MP attending the Cabinet in 2020-21, with total costs of £244,312.

This was compared to £178,406 for Prime Minister Boris Johnson and £168,109 for Sir Keir Starmer.

John O’Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "It’s important MPs have the resources to do their jobs, but many taxpayers will be worried about the soaring cost of politics.

“The electorate expects politicians to stay grounded and keep costs under control, particularly given the Covid pandemic saw many MPs and their staff work from home.

“With taxpayers facing a cost of living crisis, politicians should be doing their utmost to keep their spending down.”

MPs' costs are usually broken down into dozens of categories, with staff pay almost always the largest expense.

> Iain Stewart's five largest types of costs were:

1) Payroll – costing £141,106.81

2) Hotel - London – £20,074.00

3) Rent – £5,859.00

4) Equipment - purchase – £2,838.33

5) Pooled Staffing Services – £2,297.00

He also spent £935.07 on a working from home allowance.

> Ben Everitt's five largest types of costs were:

1) Payroll – costing £178,831.48

2) Rent – £39,540.00

3) Stationery & printing – £7,299.93

4) Postage & couriers – £3,176.84

5) Pooled Staffing Services – £3,050.00

He also spent £1,272.92 on a working from home allowance.

Mr Stewart said: "Throughout my time as an MP I have sought to achieve good value for money in running my constituency and Parliamentary offices. For example, I share a local office with the Milton Keynes North MP to avoid the additional costs of having two separate offices. I would also point out that my total costs for the 2020/21 financial year are significantly lower than for the 2019/20 year.

"The vast majority of the “expenses” costs are for staff salaries and I pay my team a fair salary based on the official pay scales. They do an incredible job in helping support constituents, particularly during the pandemic."

Mr Everitt said: "I'm immensely proud to be the Member of Parliament for Milton Keynes North which involves representing more than 90,000 constituents. This naturally creates a significant amount of correspondence and casework and as you will see the majority of my office budget is on staffing costs.

“My team have worked extremely hard throughout the pandemic to respond to, support and communicate with constituents."