EVERY November sees the annual publication of MP expense claims.

Since the big row over these expenses in 2010 – you remember the £1,645 claim for a floating duck house by a Conservative member – MPs no longer decide their own finances. Instead a new body, the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) was created to determine the level of remuneration and expenses necessary for an MP’s duties. Importantly, IPSA is the sole (and independent) arbiter of what I can or can’t claim.

Expenses are broken down into categories. First comes travel expenses for myself and staff, both to London and within East Lothian. In 2015-16, I claimed £11,603 for travel, or roughly £1,000 per month. My travel claim is less than the previous MP in East Lothian, who claimed £18,000 in 2014-15 (by the way, I’m not criticising that claim).

Unlike Holyrood, tradition-bound Westminster never decides its weekly business until the last minute and frequently alters schedules. That means sudden changes to travel arrangements, which adds to costs. There is a Parliamentary travel agency which arranges ‘open’ airline tickets so an MP from a constituency a distance from London can get any flight that fits with changing schedules. However, this open ticket is expensive, so I stick to the train and use my senior rail card.

MPs can also claim for rented accommodation in London but this is rigidly capped. I spend at least four days a week at Westminster, at least 40 weeks a year. Rightly, IPSA no longer allows an MP to claim mortgage payments. London rents are sky high, so I know MPs who share in order to get more than a room and kitchen. The downside to the current system is that IPSA is forking out on rents with nothing to show at the end of a Parliamentary session. I think IPSA should acquire a set of flats and rent to MPs. That would save the taxpayer money.

I have made 253 spoken contributions in Parliament in my first 18 months, more proportionately than my predecessor. It is always my aim to give constituents value for money. But in the end, democracy has to be paid for. Could we do it cheaper? Well, do we really need 812 members of the Lords?