Taxpayers foot £300k travel bill for MPs' husbands and wives

Travel claims made by all 646 MPs in 2008/09 were included in a raft of information published by Parliament yesterday.

Yorkshire's MPs claimed almost 50,000 for their spouses' travel, something allowable under Commons Fees Office rules.

The region's biggest claimant was Colne Valley MP Kali Mountford, who claimed almost 5,000, followed closely by Barnsley Central's Eric Illsley and Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague. They were three of only nine MPs to claim more than 4,000 in travel for husbands and wives – a group also including Chancellor Alistair Darling. Around a third of the region's MPs claimed nothing.

Mr Illsley said: "It's been the case ever since the travel system was set up that MPs who live away from home in London can make a certain number of claims for their spouse. It allows their spouse so many visits to London to be with the MP."

When added to the second homes expenses published in a storm of controversy last year, the figures show MPs claimed a total of 95.6m during 2008/09.

Yorkshire's highest-claiming MP was Leeds North East's Fabian Hamilton, with a total of 184,000 – the seventh-biggest in Parliament. The region's cheapest was Barnsley West and Penistone's Michael Clapham, who claimed 107,500.

The new figures reveal significant discrepancies between MPs' travel habits. For example, Gerry Sutcliffe claimed more than 18,000 for travel between his Bradford South constituency and Parliament, while his neighbour at Bradford West, Marsh Singh, claimed only 10,200.

However, while Mr Sutcliffe's expenses were mostly for rail fares, Ms Singh spent around 6,000 on short-haul flights – far more than any other Yorkshire MP. Other frequent fliers were Selby's John Grogan (1,607) and the Vale of York's Anne McIntosh (1,114), the former shadow environment minister.

Greener options were taken by climate change secretary Ed Miliband and environment secretary Hilary Benn, both of whom travelled between Yorkshire and London solely by train.

Also released yesterday were details of every function held by MPs at Parliament since 2004. While such events are not held at taxpayers' expense, they do reveal some of the more unlikely personal interests of certain MPs.

Great Grimsby's Austin Mitchell holds regular events for the Hairdressing Council, while Ryedale's John Greenway – 13th overall with 55 receptions – holds fundraisers for injured jockeys.