13 September 2013

Berger Hands Campaign Gift to Morrison

Yesterday, MP expenses were published detailing the claims made not just by Liverpool MPs, but around the whole country.

Now there are reasons why different MPs might claim different amounts. Most of this will come down to travel which explains the higher claims, in general, of Northern Irish and Scottish MPs.

However, when you get disparities like the one in Oldham, with one MP claiming less than £25,000 and one claiming more than £74,000 then it raises real questions about how the expenses are being used.

Here in Liverpool, the headline figures for the 5 Labour MPs are:

Luciana Berger £49,515
Steve Rotherham £49,133
Louise Ellman £32,978
Stephen Twigg £32,323
Maria Eagle £27,218

The big disparity in Luciana Berger and Steve Rotherham’s claims is for accommodation costs. There might be a good reason for that but it is still hard to understand why their claims can be nearly double those of Maria Eagle’s.

So it is down to Luciana Berger and Steve Rotherham to justify those higher accommodation costs, but as soon as the public sees these figures, in the news or on social media, they will be asking questions. For Jake Morrison, who will be challenging to win Liverpool Wavertree, these expenses will be a gift that will just keep on giving until September next year.

My advice to my current MP is that she needs to think about staying in cheaper accommodation. Like other voters in the constituency I am not impressed.

[All figures for all MPs can be obtained here]

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Peter

It is not difficult to work out why

Berger has a home (owned) in Liverpool. She claims the 2nd home allowence for a rented flat in London.

Eagle owns in London and rents in Liverpool

and there is the reason
for price difference.

a reason for criticism, I dont think so.

Peter Cranie said...

Thanks for commenting Brenda. That does indeed explain the price difference, but I think the point I make remains valid.

Voters in Wavertree, many of whom will earn less annually than the nearly £20,000 spent on accomodation costs, will want to know why their MP could not find accomodation in London that is cheaper than £1,600 a month.

Jake Morrison has already pledged that he will take just £30,000 of the MP wage if elected, and these relatively high expenses compared to the other Liverpool MPs, will help his narrative in his election campaign.