11:41am Wednesday 20th May 2009
By Oliver Evans
A BUCKINGHAMSHIRE MP today said he would need to find new ways of “coping” with a cut in members’ expenses.
Aylesbury MP David Lidington said a rent for a rented flat in Westminster is “somewhat more” than a new £1,250 limit announced yesterday.
Mr Lidington, who declined to reveal the rent amount, said: “I will have to try and find a way to cope with that.
“It may mean that I think about different ways of doing it, perhaps using hotels, though those don’t come cheap in Westminster.”
Early changes to the system were announced yesterday including the limit on rent and mortgage interest and a ban on claiming for furniture, gardening and cleaning.
It comes as Buckinghamshire County Council chief executive Chris Williams urged voters not to be put off voting in a June 4 poll of all councillors on the authority.
Mr Lidington, whose constituency includes Princes Risborough, also today spoke about arguments that some home counties MPs do not need second homes and can commute.
Reading East MP Rob Wilson and Reading West MP Martin Salter, for example, commute every day from the town’s train station.
Early trains from Reading take about half-an-hour into London Paddington and the last train is at 1.45am and takes about 55 minutes.
Early trains from Princes Risborough to London Marylebone take about 50 minutes and the last train is at 12.10am and takes about an hour.
Mr Lidington told Bucks Free Press: “It would curb very considerably the number of hours I actually spend every week on my constituency and Parliamentary work.”
He said he usually worked to between 10 and 11pm in the week but if the rules changed to make him commute home to Princes Risborough he would “find a way to cope with that”.
Beaconsfield MP Dominic Grieve is also set to lose out as he pays £1,535 month a rent for his second home, a rented cottage near Marlow.
He said he paid this one month a year out of his own pocket.
Mr Grieve said: "If that means in the short term that I have to bear that cost myself and I shall consider what to do about it in the light of further decisions on members' allowances."
Wycombe MP Paul Goodman, whose second home is a mortgaged property in High Wycombe, said “my accommodation costs are low compared to those of many other MPs”. He said: “The expenses reforms announced yesterday won't affect me substantially, if at all.”
There are fears the expenses story will lower voter turnout at the June 4 election for all seats on Buckinghamshire County Council.
In a statement sent to all media chief executive Chris Williams said: “I am aware that the election is coming at a time when people are very concerned about the national issues regarding MPs expenses.”
Yet he said “our local councillors all do an extremely important job in representing their local communities and care passionately about delivering the very best”.
Chesham and Amersham MP Cheryl Gillan is to release a article to Bucks Free Press this afternoon on the subject.
She hit headlines after claiming £4.74 for dog food. This was a mistake and would be paid back, she said.
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