Payouts for jobless MPs to be revealed

The move – expected in about four weeks after the former MPs involved have been informed – came after Commons authorities backed down in the face of a freedom of information appeal from a newspaper.

MPs who leave the Commons at an election are entitled to a resettlement grant worth up to £65,738 to help them return to life outside Westminster.

It has emerged that 250 of the 255 MPs who left the Commons at last year’s election have claimed the payout, which varies between 50 per cent and 100 per cent of MPs’ annual salary depending on age and length of service.

An MP aged 55 to 64 leaving after 15 or more years in the Commons can claim the full £65,738 grant while others are entitled to at least £32,869.

If all the departing MPs claimed the full amount, the total for last year’s election would run to more than £16m.