NRI, Keith Vaz second "most expensive" MP

 

Keith Vaz


LONDON, Oct 22, 2004
PTI


NRI Keith Vaz, former minister in the Blair cabinet, is the second "most expensive" MP in Britain, owing to his services to his constituency, which has a substantial proportion of ethnic minorities particularly from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

According to official documents, Vaz, who accounted for 164,265 pounds in the year ending in April this year, put his 22,409 pounds in combined postage and stationery costs.

"My constituency has practically the highest proportion of ethnic minorities in the country and we are often writing to New Delhi, Dakha, and Islamabad, as well as the Home Office and Foreign Office," Vaz, Labour MP for Leicester East, said.

"MPs are basically immigration case workers now that advice centres have been cut. I have a four-hour surgery, I see a person every five minutes and it always overruns." Vaz said the 8,772 pounds in the "other expenses" column was the salary paid for one of his staff who went on permitted leave to care for a paralysed partner.

The highest total spent on postage and stationery last year was 40,923 by Siobhain McDonagh, MP for Mitcham and Morden.

Claire Curtis-Thomas, 46-year-old Labour MP from Crosby, topped the list with 168,889 pounds' expenses bill.