Allowances

Why do MPs get paid allowances or ‘expenses’ on top of their salaries?
Some people have asked me about the allowances or ‘expenses’ paid to MPs on top of their salaries. Because MPs run offices and employ staff, like any small business, there are the running costs of an office which must be paid.

Most of the following amounts are paid from the fees office in Parliament directly either to staff as salaries, to my landlord for office rent or to cover travel between the Highlands and Westminster.

Travel
Travelling between the Highlands and London on a weekly basis while Parliament is sitting is a costly but necessary part of representing constituents in Parliament. There are also significant costs associated with attending events and meeting constituents in every part of the constituency.

I normally fly down to London on a Monday morning and return home on Thursday night. These flights are on flexible business tickets, which are not cheap, but allow for last minute changes to flights without losing the ticket cost. Given the unpredictable nature of business at Parliament, and the occasional need to return to the constituency at short notice, last minute changes to travel arrangements are quite frequent and unavoidable.

Accommodation
This money goes towards the cost of accommodation in London during the week. (My main home is in Aviemore.)

Office
Office costs include rent of my constituency offices in Inverness, business rates, heat, light, insurance, telephones and other equipment. I am supplied with office space at Westminster.

Staff
I employ a caseworker and, a part-time researcher and a part-time diary assistant in my constituency office. I also have a researcher at Westminster. The staff salaries figure includes tax and national insurance which is sent directly to the Inland Revenue.

IT and stationery
Some IT and stationery is purchased centrally and then charged to MPs. Computers are not purchased but supplied and maintained centrally. This equipment is the property of Parliament.

The figures break up into seven amounts – I will publish my annual expenses in the table below each year when they are compiled and made available.

My Allowances
In order to ensure that my expenses are open and transparent I have published a detailed breakdown of my Parliamentary expenses for the year 2008/09. These details can be found by clicking the following link:

Expenses Breakdown for 2008/09

Details of my allowances for 2009/10 can be found by following the below link and these will be updated monthly.

Expenses Breakdown for 2009/10

Full details of expenses (PDF Format)

Details of my allowances for earlier years can be found by following the below links and a breakdown of those allowances is also provided in the below table.

Details of my expenses claims

* the travel for 2007/08 is broken up as follows:

Do you have any other sources of income?
I have no regular income apart from my MP’s salary. Follow this link to see my most recent submission in the Register of Members' Interests: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmregmem.htm