MP Collins is county's top expenses claimant
SOUTH Kent's MPs racked up a handsome £100,000-plus in expenses last year – with one claiming £20,000 for annual rent on a second home.
According to the parliamentary IPSA website, Tory member Damian Collins (Folkestone & Hythe) was the biggest claimant while Dover's Charlie Elphicke was the lowest at considerably less than half of his near neighbour.
Mr Collins, also number-one claimant of all of Kent's MPs, cashed in on allowances for accommodation, admin, travel and general expenses totalling £38,276. Mr Elphicke was ranked the county's 12th with claims for £15,454.
Mr Collins claims more than £20,394 per year to rent a home in London.
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Ashford's MP and immigration minister Damian Green put in staffing, office or other costs amounting to £24,432, seventh highest in Kent and second among the four members in south Kent.
Thanet South's Laura Sandys was eighth in Kent and third in this area with claims for £23, 906.
Mr Collins said: "As an MP you are expected to work in two places and that's not new – that's part of the job.
"I claim an accommodation allowance but there's a limit to what one can spend and it may be that I am more efficient in other areas.
"I know this is a subject that people have strong views on."
Much of MPs' spending has been reined in since the expenses scandal revealed shocking abuses of the system and led to convictions and prison sentences for members committing fraud.
Mr Elphicke said before he was elected that he would not claim a second home allowance, food or furniture if he became an MP.
He added: "I am not going to comment on what other MPs have claimed in allowances but I made a pledge that I'd not claim for homes, food or furniture, no matter what hardship it caused me."
A spokesman for the Taxpayers' Alliance said: "MPs' expenses has been and remains an emotive issue."
See comment, page 21
Comments
by TheRanter
Saturday, May 26 2012, 10:39PM
“Another 'mistake'......troughers indeed.
http://tinyurl.com/7fue5a5”
by johnlbellblog
Saturday, May 26 2012, 8:28AM
“I am a taxpaying citizen voter who has been studying the fraudulent claims of MPs since the Conway scandal first broke in the last Fraudsters' Parliament. I live in Ellesmere Port but hope that no-one in Kent minds an 'outsider' making a comment.
As these figures for the last year show, the troughs are still open for business not just in Kent but across the UK.
What these figures DO NOT show is any reference to the large increase in expenses/allowances 'fiddle money' awarded to MPs for 2012 onwards, which were 'slipped out' just BEFORE the latest budget which gave tax allowances to a not inconsiderable number of politicians but in which WE were exhorted that 'belt tightening' would remain necessary for US!
So I would advise the good people of Kent to prepare for much higher claims from their political 'representatives next year! That information, of course, may NOT be forthcoming if the latest attempt by MPs to fiddle with the Freedom of Information Act is allowed to go unchallenged!”