Thursday, December 14, 2017

The MP's Expenses Map


Members of Parliament representing the Scottish National Party tend to claim more in expenses than MP's from other political parties. 8 out of the top 10 biggest expenses claims made by Members of Parliament last year were by MP's from the SNP. The SNP would probably be keen to point out that their MP's have the furthest to travel from their constituencies to Westminster and therefore have the highest travel costs.

Voters can access information about their Member of Parliament's expenses on IPSA's Interactive Map. The map is colored to show which political party holds each UK constituency. The map can also be used to view the expenses of each Member of Parliament for every year since 2010. If you click on a constituency on the map you can view the name of the local MP (under the map). If you then click on the MP's name you can view their expenses for each year. The expense for each year are broken down to show how much they have claimed for office costs, accommodation, staffing, travel and other costs.

The UK's Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) was established in response to the parliamentary expenses scandal. In 2009 a series of revelations were published about extortionate expenses claims made by a large number of Members of Parliament over the previous years. IPSA is now responsible for monitoring MP's expenses and for paying their salaries & expenses.

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