NORTHERN IRELAND First Minister Peter Robinson has defended claims for food allowances made by him and his wife, Strangford MP Iris Robinson, totalling £30,000 (€33,745).
He said the publication of the expenses by the Daily Telegraphwas made sensational by the adding together of the two claims and the lumping together of four years' worth of claims.
He defended the claims as reasonable and within the rules, insisting that neither he nor his wife were in representative politics for the money.
In a lengthy statement, Mr Robinson said: “In reality this equates to an average of about £73 per week. The Fees Office [at Westminster] determined that £400 each month to cover food in London is not unreasonable given the cost of buying meals in London. I use this facility when in London for the parliamentary sessions or for meetings (or negotiations) with ministers when the House is not sitting.”
He said an inadvertent error which involved the same expense being claimed by both himself and his wife had been speedily corrected.
The deepening furore over MPs’ expenses spilled over into the European election campaign with MEP Jim Allister, who split from the DUP to form the Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV), accusing his former party colleague of “greed, double-jobbing and family dynasty-building”.
Mr Allister said public trust had been rocked to its core.
“These have been the top issues on the doors this week,” he said. “Paying the weekly grocery bill is a huge struggle for many, so when extravagance, at the public expense, is flaunted, it offends right-thinking people.”
He said the European Parliament expenses regime is “far from perfect”, but is based on a daily allowance and “at least it avoids the scandal of acquiring property at the public expense. My own expenses, of course, are posted on my website. I would call on other MEPs and MPs to do likewise.”
The DUP hit back at Mr Allister last night, claiming that the MEP cost the taxpayer on average about £300,000 per year in total.
Ulster Unionist leader Sir Reg Empey criticised the DUP’s MPs who are also Assembly members, accusing them of double-jobbing while claiming allowances in two parliaments.
“No reasonable person will object to public representatives claiming reasonable expenses to do the job they have been elected to do: but they have every right to complain if expenses are being used to pay off second homes and subsidise lifestyles,” he said.
Sinn Féin last night published expense details of its five MPs, who do not take their seats at Westminster.
“There is anger at the systematic ripping off of taxpayers’ money from those elected to high office and anger at the complete lack of transparency and accountability,” party president Gerry Adams said. He claimed Sinn Féin members at Westminster were “denied” their salaries by the British government despite representing their constituents.