BASINGSTOKE MP Maria Miller claimed more than £2,000 off the taxpayer to pay for energy bills for her second home, it has emerged.

An investigation by The Sunday Mirror revealed that Mrs Miller claimed £2,011 in electricity bills from the start of April 2012 to the end of March 2013 for her Basingstoke-based second home.

The paper revealed that 340 of the country’s 650 MPs claimed a total of £200,000 from energy bills. More than 41 claimed more than £1,000 for power and heat during the 12 months.

The figures were compiled from records held by IPSA – the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, which monitors MPs’ expenses claims. Mrs Miller, who is also the Government’s Culture Secretary, was 14th in a list of the top 15 claimants.

MPs, whose constituencies are outside London or not in commuting distance, are allowed to claim expenses relating to a second home, according to IPSA rules.

The Gazette asked Mrs Miller’s office if she was “morally comfortable” with making the claims, which are perfectly within the rules, at a time when many people are struggling to pay rising energy bills, and if she was still claiming.

The MP did not answer the question but referred to a statement that was published in her weekly column in this week’s edition of The Basingstoke Extra – The Gazette’s sister free paper.

Mrs Miller wrote: “The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority was established to set rules governing MPs pay and costs.

“They are funded by the taxpayer to provide independent auditing of all MPs costs associated with their jobs. It regularly publishes all claims for each individual MP to ensure transparency. This is something MPs take very seriously.”

The fresh spotlight on Mrs Miller’s expenses claims come 11 months after an investigation into expenses claimed for her London home was opened by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, following a complaint by Labour MP John Mann.

Last December, The Daily Telegraph detailed the Culture Secretary’s tax-payer-funded expenses claims made between 2005 and 2009, and reported that she claimed £90,718 for a home where her parents live with her family in Wimbledon, South London.

The report highlighted that the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards had ruled that second homes must be used “exclusively” by MPs fulfilling their parliamentary duty.

According to the commissioner’s office, the long-running investigation is still ongoing and “they are unable to comment”. The office added that the findings will be made public after they have been referred to the Standards Committee, but a spokesman could not say when that will happen.

As previously reported in The Gazette, Mrs Miller is not allowed to comment about the matter, under parliamentary rules. But before the investigation started, she said her expenses were “absolutely in order” and “in complete accordance with the rules”.