'Expenses shame' MPs will cost £1m

12 April 2012

The 12 MPs who plan to stand down at the next election in the wake of revelations over their expenses will cost the taxpayer more than £1 million.

If the general election is not called until next spring, their salaries will cost more than £600,000 combined.

And generous "resettlement grants" will see MPs receive between £32,000 and £65,000 each on leaving office.

The MPs - including Tory Julie Kirkbride and Labour's Margaret Moran, who announced their intention to quit on Thursday - are also in line for gold-plated pensions.

The resettlement grant, which is payable at the next general election, is calculated on a sliding scale according to an MP's age and their length of service in the Commons.

The first £30,000 is tax-free.

Tory Douglas Hogg, who quit after revelations about his moat-cleaning expenses, will receive just under £60,000 in the "redundancy" payout if an election is called after February next year.

Both Ms Kirkbride and Tory Christopher Fraser - who claimed more than £1,800 to buy 215 trees and fencing - will both receive £32,000.

Ms Kirkbride's husband and fellow Tory MP Andrew MacKay is set to get around £65,000.

Ms Moran, who claimed for treating dry rot at a home 100 miles from her constituency, will receive a grant of £54,000.