Allowance budget was £109.3m

12 April 2012

MPs were set for a record £109million in expenses in the current year before being forced to curb claims.

Commons bosses had budgeted to pay out the sum for allowances equating to nearly £170,000 per MP.

However, the bill to the taxpayer is now expected to be significantly lower after the expenses scandal and agreed reforms to quell public outrage.

Some MPs facing fury from their constituents for putting in unjustifiable bills have vowed not to claim a penny more for second homes. Members claimed £93million in 2007/08, an average of just over £144,000 each. Commons chiefs had estimated the bill could hit £109.3million, including £7.4million for travel, in 2009/10 which would be a rise of just over £16million, or 17 per cent, in two years.

The funds are used for office costs, staff, second homes, travel, stationery, computers and other items.

Bromsgrove Conservative MP Julie Kirkbride faced new questions today after the Daily Telegraph reported that her brother, who lived rent-free at her taxpayer-funded second home, bought computer equipment worth £1,000 using public funds.

Her husband Andrew MacKay has already been forced to announce he will stand down as MP for Bracknell over his claims for a taxpayer-funded property after it emerged he did not have a proper second home.

Tory MP couple Sir Nicholas and Ann Winterton have become the latest veteran Conservatives to announce they will step down at the next election.

They were found last year to have broken Commons rules by using tens of thousands of pounds of taxpayers' money to rent a London flat which they had put into a family trust after paying off the mortgage.

Meanwhile, Chancellor Alistair Darling is among several ministers facing questions over using public funds to pay for accountants.

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