MPs rack up £3.2m claims for expenses in first two months

Former Barnsley Central Labour MP Eric Illsley – who in January admitted fiddling £14,500 in expenses and was jailed for 12 months – was paid £6,766 in expenses claimed for at the start of the year.

Illsley, who was released last month and claimed to have been made a scapegoat, provoked outrage in some quarters by clinging on to his Parliamentary seat for nearly a month after pleading guilty. His claims included £3,000 for photocopier hire and £2,302 for constituency office rent.

The latest figures from the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) show a total of almost 25,000 claims were submitted for January and February, with 84 MPs having been refused a total of £4,633 they asked for by the independent regulator after the claims were found to be invalid.

Among them was Education Secretary Michael Gove who was denied £7.50-worth of ineligible calls from a phone bill.

In Yorkshire, former Sports Minister Gerry Sutcliffe had £13.50 knocked off of a claim for a mobile phone bill, while Leeds North East MP Fabian Hamilton had just 10p cut from a £229.54 claim for a printer following a discrepancy with receipts.

The figures also disclosed for the first time that £880,000 had been put on payment cards issued to MPs– which were originally designed just to pay for travel.

The rules were relaxed amid politicians’ protests and they can now use them to settle bills for business rates, council tax bills and certain utility bills.

Around 10,000 such transactions have now been made by 378 MPs.

The total payments for the start of this year were the same as for the last two months of 2010, but the bill is set to rise significantly when future figures are published.

In a series of concessions to soothe MPs furious about the system introduced in the wake of the Westminster pay and perks scandal, IPSA is now allowing them to spend more.

The controversial changes were announced in March after angry complaints from across parties that the system created in the wake of the expenses scandal is too restrictive and bureaucratic.

IPSA has refused to estimate how much the changes would cost the taxpayer, saying it would depend on what MPs decided to claim.

The extra staff spending for 650 MPs could potentially reach £3.25m, and the accommodation bill is likely to rise by hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Among other high-profile MPs to have claims rejected were Shadow Education Secretary Andy Burnham, who claimed more than £250 in train fares from his constituency and former Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell, who was denied reimbursement of a £286 air fare from London to Scotland.

Both were ruled out on the basis of “insufficient evidence” – the same reason given to Liberal Democrat deputy leader Simon Hughes over a £50 cleaning bill.

Others were ruled to have claimed for things the public was not liable to pay for – such as a £15 restaurant bill from Transport Minister Norman Baker and the £9.99 former Foreign Secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind spent on passport pictures for a visa for a foreign visit.

Labour MP Geoffrey Robinson – a former Paymaster General – had a claim thrown out for a £63.50 first-class train ticket, apparently for journey across Italy.

Prime Minister David Cameron was paid £404.89, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg £6,679.55 and Labour leader Ed Miliband £1,303.68.