Salisbury MP's expenses for last financial year revealed
There's a breakdown of how he spent the money
New figures have revealed that Salisbury MP John Glen spent around £202,000 on expenses during the 2019/20 financial year.
The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority data shows how much taxpayers money the Conservative MP spent.
His total was above the average for UK politicians, which stands at £188,295.
Danny Kruger, MP for Devizes, cost the taxpayer £66,000, but only became an MP in December 2019.
This was way above for average of £44,000 for new MPs.
Meanwhile Andrew Murrison, MP for South West Wiltshire, spent around £130,000 throughout the entire financial year.
The IPSA figures also reveal the individual claims made.
The most expensive one made by Mr Glen, outside of annual staff pay, was £3,133.00 for pooled staffing services, with further details saying this was for "Policy Research Unit".
BREAKDOWN
Here are the 5 things John Glen spent the most on:
- Payroll - £148,059.22
- Rent - £23,424.96
- Bought-in services - £6,040.00
- Rail travel - £3,927.25
- Car mileage - £3,448.35
John told Greatest Hits Radio:
"I am fortunate to have a very experienced staff team, half of whom have been with me over a decade. Salary costs are inevitably higher with employing high quality people over a significant period of time, but this expertise helps me to do my job better serving constituents and tackling casework.
The benefits of employing experienced staff have been very clear this year during the pandemic. There has been a much larger volume of complex casework, with constituents stranded overseas, struggling with welfare issues and needing assistance with business loans and grants."
IPSA want people to be reassured that the money spent by our MPs is helping us as well.
Interim chair Richard Lloyd said:
"Every month over 4,000 MPs and staff have their salaries paid and business costs reimbursed, within the rules set independently by IPSA. It’s good for confidence in our system that compliance with the rules is very high, at 99.97%.
Through IPSA, taxpayers can be assured that public money has been spent appropriately by Members of Parliament, and that we have helped them to serve their constituents during the most difficult of times."