Leicestershire MP top spenders revealed

The MPs who spend the most money in Leicester and the wider county have been revealed in the annual report on spending details for every MP published this week. On top of their salary, MPs receive expenses to cover the costs of running an office, employing staff, having somewhere to live in London or their constituency, and travelling between Parliament and their constituency.

The highest spending MPs for Leicester and Leicestershire were Neil O'Brien, representing Harborough, with a total spend of £276,613 and MP for Rutland and Melton, Alicia Kearns, totalling £274,081. The MP with the lowest expenditure was Edward Argar, representing Charnwood, with a total spend of £138,871.

The data, published by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, shows details of spending by MPs against their parliamentary budgets, from December 1, 2023 to January 31, 2024.

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The information listed MPs spending on office, staffing, accommodation, travel and subsistence and other costs, which does not include food and drink or any personal costs.

The table below shows costs of each MP - just look for the name in the search box.

IPSA said: "This funding is provided to support MPs parliamentary work, enables them to employ staff and provide constituency services. MPs use most of the funding from IPSA to pay their staff to support their constituents – in 2022/23 almost 80 per cent of their spending went towards employing staff.

"They also use the funding IPSA provides to pay the rent on a constituency office and for travel to and from Westminster to represent their constituents in Parliament. They cannot claim for food or drink as part of their normal working day, or for any personal costs."

Lee Bridges, Director of Policy and Engagement at IPSA, said: “Transparency is an essential part of supporting trust in democracy. The public has a right to know their money is being spent on the right things, in the right way. We publish MPs’ expenditure every two months to provide this transparency.

“MPs play a vital role in our democracy and we believe that serving as an MP should not be reserved to those wealthy enough to fund it themselves.”