Bedford MP Mohammad Yasin had costs of £173,000 last year

While Nadine Dorries cost around £205,000
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Bedford MP Mohammad Yasin cost the taxpayer around £173,000 last year, new figures reveal.

Figures from the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) show the Labour MP's total business costs for the 2020-21 financial year were £173,085.62.

The MP's costs were up from £158,166.59 the year before, but well below the average for all Members of Parliament, of £203,880.

Bedford MP Mohammad YasinBedford MP Mohammad Yasin
Bedford MP Mohammad Yasin

Mohammad Yasin, who was elected in June 2017, spent £166,300 on office running costs in 2020-21, including £148,500 on staff wages and £17,800 on other office expenditures.

And he incurred no accommodation costs during this time, but spent £6,700 on travel and subsistence.

Mr Yasin said: “I am committed to keeping my office costs as low as possible given this is taxpayers' money.

"Like most MPs my expenditure increased slightly in 2020-21 from the previous year, as following a consultation by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) pay scales for MP staff members were increased to better reflect the nature and complexities of their roles. I also increased my team’s capacity to meet ever growing workload demands.

Mid Bedfordshire MP Nadine DorriesMid Bedfordshire MP Nadine Dorries
Mid Bedfordshire MP Nadine Dorries

"It is worth noting that the number of cases that were actioned by my office in 2021 increased by 22 per cent from 2020. I’ve seen this increase year-on-year, with an enormous 74 per cent increase in cases between 2018, my first full year in office, and 2021.

"As a result of the pandemic staff have been largely working from home and therefore entitled to an allowance to cover additional associated costs.

"It’s important to understand that the increase in workload has not only resulted from the pandemic but is symptomatic of the vastly reduced available avenues for constituents to access support following a decade of merciless cuts in public spending by recent Governments, alongside ruthless DWP and Home Office policies and the continuing housing crisis."

Mohammad Yasin's five largest types of costs were:

1) Payroll – costing £143,895.43

2) Rent – £11,499.96

3) Railcard – £6,076.00

4) Pooled Staffing Services – £3,600.00

5) Working From Home Allowance – £1,246.80

Out of the 88 individual claims made by Mohammad Yasin in 2020-21, the smallest one-off expense the 50-year-old claimed was 79p for stationery and printing.

Meanwhile, Mid Bedfordshire MP Nadine Dorries cost the taxpayer around £205,000 last year.

Her costs were up from £181,028.69 the year before.

Bedford Today approached her office for a comment earlier this week.

Nadine Dorries' five largest types of costs were:

1) Payroll – costing £169,907.33

2) Rent – £22,880.04

3) Equipment - purchase – £6,872.22

4) Pooled Staffing Services – £3,056.00

5) Working From Home Allowance – £1,157.71

Out of the 40 individual claims made by Nadine Dorries in 2020-21, the smallest one-off expense the 64-year-old claimed was £3.99 to buy equipment. Additional information said this was for "Other office equipment".

The total costs of MPs last year rose by 4 per cent, to £132.5 million, with almost £300,000 going on hotel claims for just 49 members.

Business costs are the essential costs incurred by MPs while carrying out their parliamentary duties including staffing, office costs and travel.

MPs cannot claim for personal costs, such as food and drink, during their normal working day, and all claims must be compliant with IPSA rules and accompanied by evidence.

IPSA’s chairman, Richard Lloyd, said compliance with the rules was at 99.7 per cent last year.

He added: “By far the largest area of spending is to pay for the salaries of MPs’ staff.

"In the last financial year MPs and their staff changed how they work to provide their constituents with a service during the pandemic.

“We enabled MPs’ staff to work from home, while the amount spent on parliamentary business travel fell to reflect different working patterns."

Kit Malthouse was the most expensive MP attending the Cabinet in 2020-21, with total costs of £244,312.

This was compared to £178,406 for Prime Minister Boris Johnson and £168,109 for Sir Keir Starmer.

John O’Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "With taxpayers facing a cost of living crisis, politicians should be doing their utmost to keep their spending down.”