What Worcestershire MP Harriett Baldwin cost the taxpayer in expenses

Data from the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) shows the Conservative MP's total business costs for the 2020-21 financial year were £189,557.70.

Mrs Baldwin spent £161,987.44 of that money on staffing, including a one off £3,050 payment on pooled staffing services for a 'policy research unit'.

The MP also claimed £18,565.72 on office costs which encompassed £2,240.94 on stationary and printing, £2,430.00 on website hosting and design and £1,876.22 on equipment such as laptops and accessories.

Her expenses also showed claims of £3,310.40 for travel costs which mostly comprised of £3,271.05 on car mileage.

Mrs Baldwin additionally spent £1,514.27 of her 'working from home allowance', a controversial fund made available for MPs to claim back the extra costs of remote working during the pandemic.

Mrs Baldwin's costs were well below the average £203,880 claim from MPs between March 2020-March 2021.

Mrs Baldwin said: “Each year, the independent body responsible for authorising MP’s budgets publishes the costs behind running my two offices, in Westminster and Malvern, as well as the staff needed to help me with my Parliamentary duties and assist with helping the thousands and thousands of constituents who have requested help or raised issues.  

"Most of the headline figure for 'expenses' is actually staff salaries, national insurance and pension contributions.

“Although Parliament did keep sitting throughout the pandemic, Covid conditions meant that all of my staff had to work from home, continuing to handle confidential correspondence and offer help and assistance to thousands of local people and businesses.

“All of our costs have been approved by an independent body and I continue to work hard for the people of West Worcestershire as we all work towards a speedy exit from the pandemic.”

By comparison, Darren Henry, Conservative MP for Broxtowe, who had the highest total figure, spent £280,936.30, while Phillip Hollobone, Conservative MP for Kettering, claimed just £80,709.33.

Worcester MP Robin Walker cost the taxpayer £160,075 in the last financial year.

This represents a drop of almost £800 from his claims of £160,842.29 for the previous year (2019/20).

Mr Walker spent £146,991.56 on office running costs in 2020-21, including £135,391.49 on staff wages and £11,145.43 on other office expenditures.

The Worcester MP spent £11,304.85 of his accommodation budget (£21,555), and a further £1,778.97 on travel and subsistence, including £603 on his car mileage and £926.80 on rail fares. 

Mr Walker said: "I always recognise this is taxpayers’ money and it needs to be spent carefully.

"The vast majority of the expenses budget went on staffing, and I think it's right, particularly in difficult times we've been through, that we maintain a focus on keeping it to the minimum level necessary to provide a good service to constituents."

MPs were also provided extra allocation within their budget to claim back the costs of working from home. 

However, Mr Walker says he decided not to dip into this fund.

"I took the decision that we shouldn't need to take the additional money, which was provided for Covid working, and we haven't used that budget at all.

"I appreciate others may have found themselves in a different situation where perhaps their staff needed laptops when they didn't have them, but as we've always worked with laptops, we felt there was no need to tap into that budget

In fact, Mr Walker claimed the least amount for expenses of all the MPs serving Worcestershire.

Mid Worcestershire MP Nigel Huddleston claimed the most with £201,143.10, however, remained below the national average. 

In Wyre Forest, MP Mark Garnier spent £192,250.50, while North Herefordshire MP Bill Wiggin claimed £197,438.20.

Tory MP for the Cotswolds, Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, also claimed a healthy £190,402.70.