What this Liberal Democrat thinks about
the Expense Claims made by our local MPs

Since the Parliamentary website published details of all expense claims made by MPs since the General Election in 2005, local Liberal Democrats have been examining the detail of claims submitted by Andrew Mitchell and Siôn Simon. But there is a lot of detail to go through. There are about a thousand pages for each MP, so further examination might reveal other matters.

I make it very clear that I make no accusation that anything illegal has been done. Also I make no accusation that any Parliamentary rules have been broken, but of course the public's main concern is about how lax those rules have been in the past.

I invite you to take a look for yourself at the expense claims that have been made :-

Andrew Mitchell

Siôn Simon

I highlight the following matters :-

Andrew Mitchell

I see that Andrew Mitchell is claiming for his office rent. Absolutely nothing wrong in that, but I note that his landlord is Sutton Coldfield Conservative Association. The rent is £2228.50 per quarter, so £8914 per year of public money is going into the confers of the political association of the party that Andrew represents in Parliament.

In July 2007 Andrew had some bookshelves fitted, for "the building of bookshelves in one of my homes where I keep Parliamentary reports". The cost of those bookshelves was no less than £1860. However I also note that on 21.11.2007 Andrew refunded that £1860 of expenses previously claimed, so there appears to have been a change of mind about whether that money should have been claimed.

Andrew is claiming £300 per quarter for "Petty Cash", and whilst that is totally within the rules, and far less than the maximum of £250 per month that the Parliamentary rules permit, it does mean that no receipts need to be provided for that Petty Cash expenditure. But no doubt these claims are totally OK, given that Andrew has signed the claim forms and thus certified, as the claim forms say, the amounts are "costs you have actually paid".

In its expenses supplement published on 20.06.2009 the Daily Telegraph comments about Andrew that :-

The Conservative frontbencher in charge of party policy on alleviating world poverty claimed more than £21000 for cleaning , redecorating and furnishing his constituency home and garden.

Siôn Simon

Anyone looking at the claim forms submitted by Simon will see that they are rather different from the way that Andrew Mitchell prepares his claim forms. I am not saying that this is right or wrong, but simply that the difference is striking.

I say this because of the number of convenient round sums being claimed for. For example, on page 7 of this PDF file I see that the following claims were made :-

Mortgage payments or rent	1000.00
Food	400.00
Utilities	100.00
Council Tax	75.00
Telephone	50.00
Cleaning	100.00
Service/maintenance	100.00
Total	1825.00

On pages 13 & 15 of the same file I see exactly the same figures being claimed for, but of course for a different months. Claims for other months vary slightly but the outstanding feature is that round sums are being claimed for.

It is also noted that there is a consistent claim for £400 per month for food, the maximum permitted under the Parliamentary rules.

Those claims for £1000 per month for "mortgage payments or rent" might now have varied and I await next year's details with interest. I say this because on 31.03.08 I see that £5400 was claimed for Stamp Duty, so there was a change of Second Home.

In its expenses supplement published on 20.06.2009 the Daily Telegraph comments about Siôn :-

Claimed £5,400 in stamp duty after moving house last year. In the same month Mr Simon charged £1850 to refurbish his new designated second home in Camden, north London, along with household items and bedding. He also claimed regular payments of £400 per month for food, the maximum permitted.

I cannot comment about the £1850 figure given that the claim details on the Parliament website have been redacted (details blanked out) but the Daily Telegraph has details of the claims before the anything was deleted.

Final Comment

Again I make clear that I am not suggesting anything illegal has been done, or any Parliamentary rules have been broken.

This Liberal Democrat looks forward to the rules being tightened to ensure that in future MPs are only entitled to claim for reasonable items, incurred wholly, exclusively and necessarily in the performance of their duties.

More examination of the expenses claims will follow, and then this webpage will be updated.

John Line
Birmingham, Erdington Constituency

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