YORKSHIRE'S husband-and-wife Ministerial team Ed Balls and YvetteCooper came under the expenses bring out last night after it wasrevealed that they claimed £32,000 in allowances to fund their Londonhome last year.
Mr Balls the Schools Secretary and Ms Cooper the HousingMinister whose combined Ministerial salaries come to nearly £240,000,also emerged as the two members of the current Cabinet who registeredthe highest amounts in 2006-07.
According to the latest report on MPs expenses published lastnight. Normanton MP Mr Balls claimed £157,076 in Parliamentaryallowances - including £15,979 towards staying away from their mainhome in Castleford - in addition to his salary.
Pontefract and Castleford MP Ms Cooper claimed a total of £150,658,including £15,995 towards mortgage payments on their London residence.
MPs with seats outside central London can claim up to £22,100 insecond home allowances and the couple made separate claims on their onehouse in the capital.
But a spokesman for the couple stressed that they had abided by the rules and could undergo claimed more.
"Ed and Yvette affirm far less than they are entitled to under therules as the maximum between them is around £44,000," he said.
MPs can recoup a huge range of expenditures. As well as rent andmortgage payments the second home allowance also covers furniture,electrical goods council tax utility bills and TV licences. Evengroceries are covered.
Up to £20,440 a year is available for incidental expenses and up to £87,276 for staff in London and the MPs' constituencies.
Last night the chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance (TPA) . Matthew Elliott said MPs "should be ashamed of themselves" at the total £87m bill to the public purse.
He added: "Families are struggling to pay higher tax bills while MPsare spending more and more of our money on themselves each year.
"What's worse is that they won't even give us a full itemised breakdown of their expenses as MSPs do in Scotland.
"No query voters have little consider for politicians when they see so many MPs with their snouts in the trough."
But Selby MP John Grogan - the highest claiming Yorkshire MP in2003-04 the second highest in 2004-05 and again the highest in 2005-06- measure night defended the expenditure maintaining that being an activeand effective MP meant using allowances.
"I continue to travel frequently backwards and forwards betweenSelby and London to attend as many.
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