Damian Collins MP Expenses 2010/11 – 2015/16

Damian Collins (left) our beloved MP is as you may or may not know the most expensive MP in Kent according to the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority  (IPSA) data. So we decided to look a little deeper at Damian’s expenses. We excluded payroll costs as these are the single largest costs of all MP’s.

You can see Damian’s Register of Interests where he ‘accepted two tickets including hospitality to the England versus Wales Rugby World Cup match at Twickenham; total value £3,300’.

He receives £1500 quarterly from the Author’s Licensing and Collecting Society and this begun in Dec 2015. Each meeting he attends is 4 hours, so for £6000 annually he gives up 16 hours in total, per year, and earns £375 per hour.

On the 19 February 2016, he received an advance payment of £6,000 from Harper Collins, for his book ‘Charmed Life’ The Phenomenal World of Philip Sassoon.

Damian has cost the public purse £279,624, (no of the data includes Mr Collins MP Salary) which over 72 months averages out to £3,884, as the graph below shows.

Damian is a believer in ‘the importance of a free press and a press both acting freely and speaking with confidence to the powerful.’ HOC Nov 15th 2016. Anyway to his expenses.

Mr Collins MP made a claim for staples which cost 0.08p in May 2013. He also made a claim for less than 1 mile which cost the public purse 0.41p. HMRC allow 45p a mile for business journeys. Below are Mr Collins MP top ten smallest claims.

You can decide for yourself if Damian Collins MP is value for money or not from the following graphs.

The Folkestone & Hythe Conservative Association sold their building in West Cliffe Gardens Folkestone in Sept 2014.

These are Mr Collins expenses by category

We can see that year on year Mr Collins travel expenses (below) have been growing.

We’ll leave you to decide if Damian Collins, Kent’s most expensive MP is value for money.

The Shepwayvox Team – Dissent is NOT a Crime