Standards commissioner urged to investigate MP travel expenses

Parliamentary standards commissioner Sir Phillip Mawer has been urged to investigate “huge discrepancies” in the travel expenses of MPs.
 
Under the Freedom of Information Act, MPs are required to reveal details of their car, taxi, air and rail travel.
 
But figures published recently for MPs' travel expenses have alarmed the TaxPayers’ Alliance, which is writing to the commissioner to request he investigate a “number of MPs who appear to be abusing the system”.
 
Blair Gibbs, campaign director for the Taxpayers’ Alliance, said: “In a few cases there are huge discrepancies and we have real concerns that travel allowances have been manipulated.
 
“If these expense claims turn out to be unjustified, it will explain why the politicians were so keen on keeping this all secret in the first place.”