Go to www.journallive.co.uk/expenses for our special section on MPs' expenses. Find out everything your MP claimed back in our full list of expenses – and see our MPs expenses in pictures gallery – highlighting the more outlandish claims.
DETAILS of MPs’ expenses claims were finally published by the House of Commons yesterday, evoking fresh public outcry. Regional affairs correspondent Adrian Pearson reveals what your MP claimed.
DAVE ANDERSON, Blaydon
Billed the taxpayer for £68.84 each month for service or maintenance to his home.
And over the course of a year he claimed £3,900 worth of food on expenses and worked up a cleaning bill of £145, as well as totting up £250 of repairs.
Other items claimed for by Mr Anderson included carpet replacement at £1,000, £38 on bedding and two separate bills for paint, costing a total of £27.
His total expenses claims for the year added up to £21,651.50.
HILARY ARMSTRONG, Durham North West
Claimed £120 for two pillows.
£210 claimed in September 2007 for decorating doors and windows.
In May the same year she had her Aga serviced at a cost of £95.54.
In March 2007 she spent £3,100 to repoint stonework on the gable ends of her house.
She also claimed £375 for a dishwasher in September 2005 and a washing machine costing £282.23 in February 2005.
PETER ATKINSON Hexham
Mr Atkinson claimed £2,068 to line his chimney after it failed a safety test, with £329 spent replacing a gas fire in 2006.
Bills totaling £2,968 to replace rotten windows were also submitted.
Other expenses included £439.94 for a TV and video recorder in 2005, along with £132.23 for Ikea curtains and £99.99 for a garden shed.
Mr Atkinson claimed £21.86 for Homebase tools to erect the shed. He claimed for his television licence, a £45 kitchen tap repair, £444 for a bed and a £119 computer table.
ALAN BEITH, Berwick
Claimed an average of £1,200 a month in mortgage payments and £30 a month in laundry bills.
In 2006 he claimed £757 on kitchen equipment including a fridge freezer, cooker and cooker hood.
He claimed £4,700.65 towards half the cost of refurbishing his kitchen.
In February 2007 he spent £39.95 on a kettle.
Other claims include £350 for a TV and £224 on an air conditioner.
Also claimed £7,115 for the cost of cleaning his London home between 2004/05 and 2007/08.
Roberta Blackman-Woods, City of Durham MP
The MP has previously revealed her full expenses claims to The Journal, including details withheld by Parliament.
Her claims show regular bids to be reimbursed for food bills totaling up to £400 a month. The MP says she would claim up to £25 a day food costs but only when working.
She also spent £1,427 on bedroom furniture, including £649 on a 5ft-bedstead.
Two sofas were also charged to the taxpayers, spread out over two years at a cost of £57.50 a month.
But the Labour MP, who put her claims on a website in May, paid for a TV and kitchen items from her own pocket, describing them as “not essential” to her job.
NICK BROWN North East Minister
Nick Brown has not claimed for furniture, but did take his full monthly allowance of £400 for food.
One major bill was £3,523 for a new boiler in his Newcastle home in 2005
A £429 computer was bought in 2007.
The Newcastle East and Wallsend MP claims for mortgage interest payments for his Newcastle property. The monthly bill has dropped to £374.22 from £554.22 last year. Mr Brown paid around £250 in cleaning bills a month between 2004 and 2008.
STEPHEN BYERS, North Tyneside
Claimed more than £125,000 in second home expenses for a London flat owned by his partner where he lives rent-free, it was claimed last month.
Spent £388 of taxpayers’ money on a washing machine. Claimed more than £236 on having the kitchen painted. Receipts show he regularly spent £400 a month on groceries and £200 on cleaning, even when Parliament was in recess.
ALAN CAMPBELL, Tynemouth
Ate his way through £3,750-worth of food in a year at the taxpayer’s expense. Claimed £32 on towels, £25 on a cutlery set and £29 on crockery.
The vast majority of his claims are made up of mortgage payments, service charges, utility bills and council tax payments.
The year prior to that the MP’s claims came to more than £22,000, in 2005/06 he also claimed more than £22,000 and in 2004/05 he claimed around £20,000.
RONNIE CAMPBELL, Blyth
Spent thousands of pounds kitting out his London flat.
Claimed a DFS leather sofa and pouffe for £1,020 in May 2004.
A soap dispenser for £12.99 and £20 for a bathmat were also covered. A quilt cover and bed sheet cost taxpayers £153.75. Made two claims of £239.10 and £91.90 for rock salt after his offices were overrun with slugs.
Claimed £39 for a panama hat.
