A SOUTH Lakes MP has claimed back thousands of pounds in expenses in the past year.

According to expenses submitted to the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA), Westmorland and Lonsdale MP Tim Farron has claimed back nearly £50,000 of expenses between 2019 and 2020.

In 2011 IPSA was made responsible for determining MPs’ pay and setting the level of any increase in their salary.

IPSA was set up two years earlier, largely as a response to the parliamentary expenses scandal of 2009.

The most recent data collected by IPSA revealed that between 2019 and 2020, Mr Farron has spent: £13,175.65 on travel; £24,189.17 on accommodation; £1,500 on staffing and £12,128.75 on office costs.

The includes £2,999.91 on advertising and contact cards, £8,660.57 on bought-in services, £19,716.58 on rent as well as £9,545 on MP travel.

Mr Farron said the majority of his outgoing expenditure is spent on employing staff which helps support the local community by offering his support in responding to concerns raised by his constituents.

He said: “As always, the bulk of my expenditure goes on employing staff to help me to support our local community here in Westmorland.

“The work they have done during this crisis is phenomenal, helping me to deal with over eight thousand cases where local people have turned to me for support.

“I’m grateful to my team for ensuring that I have been able, for example, to help people access mental health treatment for their children, to help families to get a roof over their heads and to get local people back home who were stranded abroad at the beginning of the pandemic.”