Southport MP Damien Moore under fire for £260,000 expenses bill in the last financial year

Damien Moore’s eye-watering £266,000 expenses bill in the last financial year, footed by Southport taxpayers, has been defended by the Conservative MP as being within his rights.

The bill, which includes travel expenses, dwarfed that of all but one other MP in the House Of Commons.

The MP for Orkney, who has to catch two different planes in order to get to London, spent less.

But Mr Moore’s office has defended his expenses, saying: “All of Moore’s expenses, including travel, have been in keeping with IPSA’s independently set rules.”

The spokesperson went on to further justify the spending by saying struggling taxpayers should instead focus on how much pressure Mr Moore has put on Sefton Council.

They said: “Mr Moore makes no apology for his significantly higher level of correspondence compared to nearby Labour MPs in protecting his constituents from the inadequacies of Labour-run Sefton council, and will continue to do all he can to stand up for his constituents, both in Southport and in Westminster.”

Former MP John Pugh said: “Much of an MP’s expenses cover office and employees’ salaries but what catches the eye in the latest data is the extraordinary level of Mr Moore’s travel and subsistence costs, totalling nearly £17,000.

“This is far more than the MP for Orkney claims and he needs to take two planes to get home!

“In a year when parliament operated virtually due to Covid, most MPs’ travel expenses plummeted. Mr Moore’s fellow MPs in Sefton claimed £3,000 and £1,300 respectively.

“Like the postage bills Mr Moore’s travel expenses seem hard to explain, but going by the latest figures it appears that Mr Moore as an MP is costing the taxpayer over £100K more than I did as his predecessor.”