Merseyside MPs are once again embroiled in questions over expenses, as Marc Waddington and Rob Merrick report

A FRESH crackdown on expenses abuses was promised yesterday – as it was revealed Merseyside MPs have cost taxpayers over a quarter of a million pounds a year for their second homes in London in the 2008/9 financial year.

Among claims paid out of the public purse included £35 for wake-up calls for Knowsley North and Sefton East MP George Howarth, two TVs within a month for Wirral South’s Ben Chapman, and £608 for West Derby’s Bob Wareing’s dry cleaning.

The total bill covering mortgage interest relief, utilities, upkeep and food for 16 Merseyside Parliamentarians was £257,213.

Most are well under the £24,006 ceiling under Parliamentary rules. But two – Walton’s Peter Kilfoyle and Wavertree’s Jane Kennedy – hit that maximum during the 2008-09 financial year.

They were top of the Liverpool City Region’s expenses league, according to Commons officials.

The remaining pecking order among locals MPs included Eddie O’Hara (Knowsley South) at £23,972, John Pugh (Southport), £23,970, Ben Chapman £23,859, Claire Curtis-Thomas (Crosby) £23,660, Louise Ellman (Riverside) £23,691.

Shaun Woodward (St Helens South) came next with £21,417, Stephen Hesford (Wirral West £18,565) and Maria Eagle (Garston) £14,367.

Despite his cleaning bills, Bob Wareing was one of the lower claimants at £13,673, followed by Dave Watts (St Helens South) at £9,371. George Howarth’s wake-up calls still left him as a very frugal claimant at £9,232, followed by Frank Field (Birkenhead) £8,420, Joe Benton (Bootle) £7,630 and Angela Eagle (Wallasey) at £7,483.

Nationally, Quentin Davies, a Labour defence minister who defected from the Tories in 2007, was under fire after trying to claim £20,700 to rebuild a bell tower on his constituency home. He was eventually paid £5,376 by the Commons fees office for restoration work at his stately home, in Lincolnshire.

Last night, Mr Davies denied trying to claim for the bell tower – blaming confusion because the work was on the same December, 2008, invoice as roof repairs.

But the controversy reignited the expenses scandal, on a day when other bizarre claims were revealed for a hamburger maker, garlic peelers, a mug of Horlicks and an insurance policy in case of kidnapping. Gordon Brown voluntarily paid back £500 that he claimed from the taxpayer for the painting of his summer house, after deciding it could be "questionable".