MP reveals details of expenses on internet
A SOUTH Yorkshire MP who voted against keeping his expenses secret has now revealed details of them on the internet.
Local Government Minister John Healey was the only South Yorkshire MP to vote against a recent House of Commons amendment to keep claims for household furnishings made under the "John Lewis list" secret.
He is now thought to be the only MP in the country to continue his campaign of openness by putting details of his expenses on his home web page.
The MP for Wentworth has listed down to the last penny every item that he has claimed in the period from April to June this year.
He said: "If constituents want to know how much it costs for me to do my job as their MP, I believe this information should be available to them.
"I'm not required to publish information about the allowances that I use to support my work as MP for Wentworth but we are public servants and this is public money. I think people should be able to see these details for themselves."
The website shows Mr Healey spent 4,336.75 on office costs, 21,890.99 on staffing, 601.61 of his communication allowance, 3,667.84 on additional costs and 4,270.70 on rail travel in the first three months of the financial year.
MPs are entitled to claim up to 22,193 in a full year on office costs, 100,205 on staff, 10,000 on communication and 24,001 on additional costs, with an open travel budget.
In 2006/7 Mr Healey claimed a total of 150,551 – making him the 83rd highest spender out of 645 MPs.
He started to go up the league after he was appointed Local Government Minister.
Rotherham's two other MPs, Denis MacShane and Kevin Barron have not followed Mr Healey's lead in publishing his expenses on their websites.
Along with a number of other MPs, they both said the figures were available on the House of Commons website for anyone who was interested.
The expenses list became known as the John Lewis list after it was revealed some MPs had spent lavish amounts on furnishing London homes. MPs voted to keep the controversial list secret.
Visit johnhealeymp.co.uk for Mr Healey's full breakdown of expenses.
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