NORTH East MPs received £103,374.06 in expenses from the final two months of 2010, the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority disclosed yesterday.

At the same time, £18 worth of claims submitted by two MPs from the region were refused by the watchdog.

Nationally, Ipsa paid out £3.2m in expenses from the final two months of 2010, with £9,998-worth of claims submitted by 44 MPs rejected.

In total, 26,500 claims were submitted in November and December, although many may relate to expenditure in previous months.

Between last May – when Ipsa took over the administration of MPs’ expenses – and December, there were more than 72,000 claims totalling £9.98m.

The claims from November and December were down from the £3.6m paid out in September and October last year. The value of claims knocked back by Ipsa, because they were invalid or lacked adequate documentation, also fell – from £15,352 in the earlier two-month period.

But this may reflect a change in the way that Ipsa records refused claims after outrage from MPs in February when the September and October expenses were published.

Many insisted then that their claims had been listed as not paid when they had been re-submitted later and met in full. Ipsa said such claims should only appear as paid in full in the latest update to the register.

A claim for the London congestion charge by Wansbeck’s Ian Lavery was only part-paid. The watchdog agreed to £8, but said a £2 late charge was not included in the expenses scheme.

Mr Lavery said he had only received one receipt, which he submitted, and stressed the need for transparency.

The Labour MP added: “The scheme, quite frankly, is nonsense. I have had lots of problems. I believe in transparency. I don’t mind anybody seeing every ha’penny, wages, whatever, but I really think the Ipsa scheme costs so much in terms of manpower.”

Gateshead MP Ian Mearns had a claim for an £8 taxi journey from Gateshead to BBC Newcastle rejected on the grounds of providing “insufficient evidence”.

A different £15 taxi fare from his constituency home to Newcastle train station was only partially paid up to £7, with Ipsa saying the receipt didn’t match the claim.

The Labour MP said the first incident was a clerical error, with his office submitting a claim and him then losing the receipt. The second was to do with an incorrect date on the claim form, he added.

Mr Mearns said claims had to be properly audited, but expressed concern about the “hours” it was taking to submit information with the burden being passed from the Commons authorities to MPs’ offices.

“We have got more to do and less resources to do it with, and that is readily accepted by virtually everybody,” said the Gateshead MP.

I believe in transparency... I really think the Ipsa scheme costs so much in terms of manpower