I have been receiving a lot of publicity following the publication of the expenses claims put in during the first few weeks by M.P.’s. First of all let me say that expenses are reimbursements of amounts paid out by M.P.’s for the purposes of doing their job as a Member of Parliament. There are very strict rules about what can be claimed.
During the first few weeks covered by the figures released by IPSA the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority yesterday.
In Summary my expenses were:
Flat rent: £3063.37
Hotel bills: £1922.26
Staffing: £5827.50
Train fares £737.40
Total £11,550.40
By way of explanation the hotel bills covered the first few weeks after I was elected. After that I found a flat and so I will not need to make any more hotel claims for staying in London. The biggest item is for staffing this figure covers two separate invoices for pooled research services which I subscribe to in London. Unlike many members of Parliament I do not employ any staff purely for my own use in Westminster instead I have joined two groups which MP’s join to jointly employ staff and by the end of the year this will be much cheaper than for me employing someone full-time for my own use. The figure of £5827.50 covers the period up to 31st March 2011. Clearly this items affects the overall total as it will not be repeated until next year. Also the figures which have been released do not include salary payments to members of staff which is the biggest head of account. Once the whole picture is fully revealed it will be easier to make meaningful comparisons although I do not think that is necessarily the right thing to do. What matters is that there are strict limits on what can be claimed and provided there is complete transparency I hope we will soon be able to recover the trust of the electorate.
David Nuttall 
Mr Nuttall,
I expect you will delete this as La Palin does when she gets posts that disagree with her, but I’d be grateful if you’d read it before deletion.
1) could you please use some of your expenses, which remain the highest in the North West, to actually respond to constituents’ concerns?
It’s very nice that you send us little magazine about you, yourself and your dog, but I’d rather you responded to genuine requests for help from your constituents.
As a backbencher, casework should be one of your priorities.
2) Freedom Association? Really? Perhaps it’s a generational thing. Perhaps I’m too young and naive. But taking people to court to support apartheid? Really? Did you personally take part in this campaign?
Hi,
I do not delete posts once approved.
The answer to your final question is No.
David
Dear Mr Nuttall.
If you don’t employ any staff for yourself, who have you given your three staff passes to the House of Commons to?
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmsecret/101110/sponsor-04.htm
Hi,
Thank-you for your comment. I said I did not employ any staff purely for my use at Westminster. I do employ two members of staff who man the Constituency office and as they both need to have access to the Parliamentary estate during the times when they need to be in London (eg for training sessions etc) they both have passes. Stephen Hoffman who is a Parliamentary Officer for The Freedom Association also has one of my passes. I should also add that my wife Susan also has a Parliamentary pass. I hope this answers your query.
David
Dear Mr Nuttall
Thank you for your prompt and transparent answer.
David,
I must apologise profusely to you. I had got the impression from reading this blog and watching you at the Ramsbottom big debate that you were going to be a rather bland nonentity as an MP. Just a bit of lobby fodder. How could I have thought such a thing?
It turns out you are actually a very right wing firebrand.
The first clue was your, from my point of view, disgraceful performance in talking out the private members bill seeking to make democratic will of union members the key to the outcome of strike ballots. Then came your revelation that you were pro european withdrawal. Finally your revelation above that you are assosciated with the Freedom Assosciation. The conservative parties militant tendancy. An organisation that is seeking to replicate the Tea Party movement in the UK.