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MPs complain dinner expenses rules not generous enough








In a hearing with the expenses watchdog, MPs raised a variety of complaints about their dinner allowance, which they may claim up to the value of £15 when "required to be at the House of Commons” because it is sitting beyond 7:30pm.


Thomas Docherty, a Labour MP, said it is “ludicrous” that non-London MPs only get to claim for an evening meal after that time on sitting days.


He has asked John Sills, policy director of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, to consider changing the rules to let MPs have an allowance for dinner every night they are away from their main homes.


He told Mr Sills: “You said you worked in Paris. I imagine that when [your company] were working out whether or not you had a subsistence requirement, you did not have to watch the clock and not leave the physical office until 7.31pm, which is what we have here… You are either away or you are not away from home.”


Kevan Jones, a shadow Labour defence minister, also pointed out that MPs only get £15 per night towards dinner when the rate is around £24 for civil servants and, according to one of his colleagues, £29 for serving soldiers.

The Ministry of Defence said soldiers usually get a daily subsistence rate of just £8.50 or £25 for all three meals if they are away from their base on a course.


Mr Jones also protested that the expenses watchdog would not let him claim for a “large lunch at lunchtime”, rather than an evening meal.

“I never claim the £15 full amount, but if … I choose at lunchtime to have a meal and then have a snack in the evening, you will not pay for the one at lunchtime.”

Andrew McDonald, chief executive of IPSA, explained that the expenses are only paid for additional costs incurred when the House of Commons is sitting late.

Mr Jones replied: “Yes, but I might choose to have my large lunch at lunchtime, and perhaps have a sandwich at teatime, and that is how I choose to eat. You do not allow me to claim now for the lunchtime costs.”

The comments were made in a hearing of the House of Commons administration committee.

Last night, Mr Docherty said: “I have no problem with the receipts or with the figure of £15. My point is that it’s ludicrous that the test that is applied is the House of Commons Chamber sitting at 7.31pm… That in itself is not the only measure of what MPs are doing.”

Mr Jones said: "IPSA have made some improvements in the scheme but things like the subsistence allowance seem very arbitrary in the way they are being implemented. What we need to do is simplify the system to make it less bureaucratic for claiming and cheaper for the taxpayer."

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