BASINGSTOKE'S MPs claimed more than £600,000 combined in business costs in the last year, according to figures. 

MPs, on top of their existing salary, are entitled to make claims for amounts of money each year, with the total expenses claimed for all MPs in the financial year 2021-2022 totalling over £135m.

The figures released by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) reveal that MP for Basingstoke Maria Miller's business costs for the 2022-22 financial year were £180,243.38, which falls below average.

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Business costs are the essential costs incurred by MPs while carrying out parliamentary duties including staffing, office costs, and travel.

MP's costs are broken down into categories and Ms Miller spent £9,070.08 on office expenses and £162,191.69 on staffing. She also spent £4,297.79 on accommodation and £4,683.82 on travel and subsistence.

The average MP claimed £208,242.50 in 2022. This, however, differed hugely from some MPs, with some claiming as much as £245,000 in just one month of 2022. 

Ms Miller said: "The majority of MPs’ costs are for their staff and accounts for over 90 per cent of the budget for my office. The staffing budget allows MPs to recruit a small team to help support our constituents, respond to requests, resolve issues and represent their needs in Parliament.”

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Meanwhile, the MP for North East Hampshire Ranil Jayawardena spent a total of £193,627.55, slightly more than Ms Miller but still below average. He spent £162,333.60 on staffing and £27,354.12 on office expenses. The MP spent just £858.10 on accommodation and £2,424.89 on travel and subsistence

When asked for a comment the Gazette was referred back to the IPSA website.

IPSA states: “The role of an MP is to support and represent their constituents. They have a team of approximately five staff fulfilling roles such as caseworkers or researchers, and many MPs have an office in their constituency to provide this service. Each MP effectively operates as a small business. The majority of MPs’ funding, 87 per cent in 2020-21, is for their staff and constituency office.

"Most people would not consider staffing and office costs to be 'expenses. The headteacher of a school or the chief executive of a hospital wouldn’t be said to claim "expenses" for their staff or operating costs.’’

North West Hampshire MP Kit Malthouse spent the most at £232,325.97, also above the average, throughout the year. He claimed an incredible £21,350.93 on office costs and £184,364.48 on staffing. Mr Malthouse also claimed £26,610.56 on accommodation costs. He claimed nothing for travel and subsistence.

Mr Malthouse said: "All costs are claimed within the budgets allowed with individual claims being carefully scrutinised by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, who publish the appropriate details on their website.”

In an earlier version of this article, we incorrectly reported that Kit Malthouse spent £213,50.90 on office costs and £266,10.56 on accommodation and it was in fact £21,350.93 on office costs and £26,610.56 on accommodation.