Sussex MPs’ expenses revealed

Members of Parliament across the county had bills of between £101,000 and £196,000, with spending registered for requirements such as accommodation, travel and office-running costs.

The figures were compiled by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA), ranking Strangford MP Jim Shannon as the highest claimant of all MPs at £264,505.

The highest expenses in Sussex were claimed by former Bexhill and Battle MP Gregory Barker, who racked up costs of £196,654 – the sixth highest in the country.

The lowest was Worthing West’s Sir Peter Bottomley, who ranked as the 20th lowest in the Commons by claiming just £101,477.

Mr Bottomley did not claim accommodation expenses, however.

East Worthing and Shoreham MP Tim Loughton, whose £193,589 expenses were the second-highest in Sussex, said he had incurred extra expenditure this year.

He said: “I had a lot of extra expenditure last year to pay for cover for an employee on long term sick leave and that is simply added to expenses. “Secondly there had been an underpayment of rent to my landlord for the flat I rent in Westminster and compensating payments were included for last year again adding to the total.”

The country’s lowest-claiming MP was Kettering’s Philip Hollebone, whose expenses amounted to just £4,851

The full list of MPs’ expenses is below:

Gregory Barker, Bexhill and Battle: £196,654

Tim Loughton, East Worthing and Shoreham: £193,589

Norman Baker, Lewes: £189,112

Stephen Lloyd, Eastbourne: £175,102

Amber Rudd, Hastings and Rye: £173,367

Andrew Tyrie, Chichester: £170,228

Charles Hendry, Wealden: £160,803

Francis Maude, Horsham: £154,044

Henry Smith, Crawley: £150,622

Sir Nicholas Soames, Mid Sussex: £143,749

Nick Herbert, Arundel and South Downs: £124, 276

Nick Gibb, Bognor Regis and Littlehampton: £120,094

Sir Peter Bottomley, Worthing West: £101, 477