Oxfordshire MPs claimed expenses worth cost taxpayers £885,224.19 in 2019-2020. According to the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA for short), Oxford East MP and Shadow Chancellor Anneliese Dodds spent £187,991.98 in 2019-2020, just shy of the average £188,295 annual spend of MPs who were elected before December 2019.
Dodds’ costs were payroll (£161,136.84), office costs (£13,452.26), accommodation (£12,673.64), MP travel (£600.94) and staff travel (£128.30). Dodds’ overall spending has remained relatively stable compared to her 2018-2019 total of £187,681.63. The 2019-2020 year saw a noticeable reduction in her office and travel costs, however, an increase of £16,530.82 in staffing made up much of the difference.
Witney MP Robert Courts was the second most expensive MP in Oxfordshire, costing taxpayers £184,161.56 in 2019-2020. Largest causes of spending were staffing (£141,162.92), office costs (£13,675.38) and rent (£19,781.63).
Layla Moran, MP of Oxford West and Abingdon, cost taxpayers £173,665.94, spending £130,072.44 on staffing, £21,093.07 on accommodation, £18,110.94 on office costs, £2,487.71 on staff travel and £1,901.78 on MP travel.
Victoria Prentis, MP of Banbury spent £119,590.10 on staffing, £21,636.92 on office costs, £19,847.52 on accommodation, £7,160.00 on MP travel and £2,463.61 on staff travel, coming to a sum total of £170,698.15. Included in the figure is Prentis’ £2,823.36 spent on agreed arrangement costs for volunteers, which is higher than for other Oxfordshire MPs.
Henley MP John Howell spent 154,580.58 in 2019-2020. The smaller sum in comparison to other Oxfordshire MPs may be due to lower office costs (£122,745.07) and no entry for MP travel. Newly elected Wantage MP David Johnston claimed £14,125.98 in his first year. Johnston’s expenses were significantly lower than the new MP average of £40,869 in the first year.
Image Credit: Cicero Group. License: CC BY-SA 2.0.
