Expenses: John Hemming defends the system

Lots of anger among MPs still on expenses. Inner London MPs are furious about the £400 a month food allowance, which they do not get and some had not realised existed. ("There's a real Inner London - Outer London thing going on," says one.) Others are cross that the fees office appears to have been so slack. Just one MP, John Hemming, the Liberal Democrat MP for Birmingham Yardley, has put his head above the parapet on the record to defend this system. Here is what he says:

I own a number of properties in London and Birmingham. All of these properties were purchased prior to my election as a Member of Parliament. I live in Birmingham. I have two flats in London. One is rented out. The other one I live in. If I were not to be a Member of Parliament I could rent out the second for around £25,000 per year. Even if I claimed the maximum Additional Costs Allowance it would only be £22,010. I actually claim  £18,447 - 437th. I don't mind the fact that I get less money than I would were I not to be an MP. I do, however, mind the imputation (The Independent today) that there is anything wrong with this.

There are costs that people encounter when they have to stay away from home. Many organisations provide an overnight ...

... allowance and leave it up to people to work out how to spend this.  If Parliament paid for a one-bedroom furnished flat for each MP and paid for the MPs' food costs in full I could guarantee that this would end up as more than £22,010 for each MP per year. 

The NHS appointments commission offers £157.50 per night plus money for childcare for people staying in Central London.  Even if MPs only claimed on an average say 150 sitting days (MPs are in London on other days as well) then this would be more than the ACA allowance (£23,550).  Incorporating it into pay to give, say, £20,000 extra after tax would mean, say, a £36,000 increase in gross salary costs.

I can afford to lose money on these situations and remain a Member of Parliament.  However, Parliament should not be restricted to wealthy people.  Hence there needs to be some way of paying for the cost of living in two places where necessary.  An allowance system is probably the cheapest to the public purse.

Comments

[David Cook]

Come on!
What's it all about,everyone has to eat to survive, even MPs.
I have to buy my food out of my pension,nobody subsidses me to the tune of £20,000 pa for food.
I wish my pension was £20,000pa.
For this amount of money you can put a lot of swill in the trough.

[John Hemming MP]

Nor are MPs paid subsistance of 20K for food. There is subsistance on the basis that MPs cannot just go to their flats to cook. Imagine Jeremy Paxman saying "we had hoped to have MPs to discuss this issue, but they have all gone home to cook".