It’s been ten years since the parliamentary expenses scandal first broke - and to mark a decade since, we looked at data from the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) to find out how much MPs in our area claim nowadays.
Paul Sweeney ( Glasgow North East ) claimed £107,890, making him Scotland’s least expensive MP.
Meanwhile, Ian Blackford was Scotland’s most expensive MP last year - claiming
more than £210,000 in expenses.
Between January and December last year the MP for Ross, Skye and Lochaber claimed £219,785 on expenses.
The majority of that was spent on staffing costs, which were responsible for £150,240 of the amount claimed.
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Some £8,538 went on MP travel, £20,951 on accommodation, and £32,057 on office costs.
Gavin Newlands (Paisley and Renfrewshire North) claimed £218,034, Chris Stephens ( Glasgow South West) claimed £206,538, and Hannah Bardell (Livingston) claimed £204,691.
The average cost of expenses claimed in 2018 works out as £158,264 for every UK MP claiming.
The total works out at a whopping £120 million placed on the register since January 2018.
However, nearly half of that (£91 million) was money to pay MPs' staff, and a further £12 million went on office costs.
Another £4 million went on “winding up costs” for MPs who no longer sit in the commons.
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MPs from Scotland and Northern Ireland have to regularly travel further distances to London, meaning bills for transport and accommodation tend to be higher.
IPSA was set up after the scandal in 2009, and collates records on every MP expenses claim.
The latest information only goes up to December 7, which means it’s likely figures for the year will change as more expenses are added.
Some of the expenses are grouped together and filed at the end of the financial year, and therefore the totals will cover some 2017 expenditure.
However, as the information for the end of the 2018-19 financial year isn’t yet published, the figures should mostly even out.
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