I fully understand why the reported actions of some Members of Parliament have caused anger amongst the public and there is an urgent need to change the system of accountability. I have no problem about the relevant data about my expenditure going into the public domain and will ensure that happens as soon as possible. In the meantime I can assure readers that my claims all relate to the costs of having to live in London for part of the time.

Since I have been in the House the average number of days that Parliament sat has been 158. My claim for the last year worked out at about £110 for each of those days. That is a large sum but substantially below the maximum allowable.

Sadly, in terms of London prices that is nevertheless a realistic figure. Those costs are incurred in supporting a second home in an environment that is accessible to Parliament as well as being secure at weekends and when the House is not sitting. Not a penny piece of this allowance is spent on my Cheshire home that my wife and I have lived in for over twenty years and which we restored from a state of dereliction ourselves before I was an MP.

In the future I want to see a system that is totally transparent. It is transparency that will drive out some of the practices that have brought the current system into disrepute. Whilst I don't want us to return to an era that to be an MP you had to be rich, being an MP should not be the basis of becoming rich."

16th May 2009

The attached PDF file includes the details of my "Additional Cost Allowance" (ACA) claim for 2007-8 refered to above. This includes claim forms, invoices etc. The data that has been blacked out is information that identifies addresses account numbers and so on, but ALL monies claimed are included.

I will add to this in due course information covering previous years as well as the costs of running my constituency office

17th May 2009

 London living allowance (Be patient these files take a while to open)

  07-08

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Added 27th May 2008  More information will be posted shortly

Office Costs. Called Incidental Expenses Payement or IEP. This includes rent, rates, phone bills, leases, office furniture etc for my office in Ellesmere Port for each of the years listed.

   04-05    05-06   06-07

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Communications Allowance. This is the cost of Parliamentary reports, public consultation, coffee mornings etc. The data only relates to last year as it is was new allowance

  07-08

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Added 15th June 2009. This completes all the information that is to be published. Hopefully in future years it will be possible to place it in a more readable format.

Office costs

   07-08

London living allowance

    04-05       05-06    06-07

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Summary This file is a summary of what the overall costs of my expenditure as a Member of Parliament has been since 2001. This includes the cost of staff in the constituency and in London, travel and the headings above(source the very good Theyworkforyou.com)

Added Jan 4th 2010

 London living allowance

07-08        08-09