Paul Johnston

The latest Surrey Comet reveals:

"Expenses racked up by MPs last year have been revealed by the House of Commons.

They claimed a total of £87.6million, up five per cent on the previous 12 months.

Kingston's pair of Lib Dem MPs notched up a bill of £262,583 between them.

Ed Davey, MP for Kingston and Surbiton, claimed £126,983 while Susan Kramer, MP for Richmond Park, claimed £117,837."

These expenses refer to running offices in constituencies (such as the one in Berrylands) and 'communicating with electors' and secretarial assistance and are allowable to all sitting members under arrangements voted in under this Labour government. Lord Ashcroft, a Conservative peer and donor, discussed the implications of this munificent regime in the Daily Telegraph a couple of weeks ago. He pointed out that such generous taxpayer funding inevitably allows sitting MPs to appear very active on the constituents' behalf and places candidates seeking to replace them at the next General Election at an unfair disadvantage as they must either raise their own money or rely on the fundraising efforts of party volunteers to be in any position to compete. How many coffee mornings or raffles would one have to hold to raise £127,000 do you think?

Lord Ashcroft has set up a fund to help aspiring Conservative candidates in target seats to compete more effectively. It is open to to other parties to do the same. Ashcroft's scheme is under attack from some Labour MPs including, it would seem, the Leader of the House.