Mansfield MP Ben Bradley is costing the taxpayer £212,000 figures reveal

The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority show the Conservative MP's total business costs for the 2020-21 financial year were £212,299.33 – up from £209,859.59 the year before, and above the average for all Members of Parliament, of £203,880.

By comparison, Darren Henry, Tory MP for Broxtowe, had costs of £280,900 last year, while Philip Hollobone, the member for Kettering, had just £80,700.

Mr Bradley, elected in June 2017, spent £179,000 on office running costs in 2020-21, including £156,500 on staff wages and £22,500 on other office expenditures.

He spent £29,800 of his accommodation budget (of £31,400), and £3,400 on travel and subsistence.

The total costs of MPs last year rose by 4%, to £132.5 million.

Of the 261 individual claims made by Mr Bradley in 2020-21, the most expensive single claim was staff payroll £156,482.42, the smallest was 98p for stationery and printing.

The average cost of an MP was up 29%, from £158,103, in 2019-20.

Kit Malthouse was the most expensive senior MP, in 2020-2021, with total costs of £244,312, compared to £178,406 for Prime Minister Boris Johnson and £168,109 for Sir Keir Starmer.

Mr Bradley’s largest costs were payroll; £156,482.42, rent; £36,338.37, utilities; £4,739.52, stationery and printing; £3,402.75 and pooled staffing services; £3,050.00 He also spent £1,619.66 on working from home allowance.

He said: “As you can see from the fact that all this info is in the papers, my expenses are entirely transparent and available for people to view. None of it is money for me, or in my pocket.

"The vast majority is the wages of staff, things like rent or admin costs for my constituency office, plus travelling to London. If funding was not available, only the mega-rich could afford to become MPs.

“As with many individuals and organisations, this has sometimes been more complex (and more expensive) during Covid, but my staff and I do everything to keep costs down.

“Many people each year, on publication of MPs expenses, try to paint a picture of this being extra money in my pocket. I would therefore repeat that it is not,

"It’s largely accounted for by staff wages, not one extra penny comes to me personally, if any constituent has a genuine query about the publication, they need only ask.”

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