WORCESTER MP Robin Walker cost the taxpayer £160,000 in the last financial year, new figures reveal.

Data from the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) shows the Conservative MP's total business costs for the 2020-21 financial year were £160,075.

This represents a drop of almost £800 from his claims of £160,842.29 for the previous year (2019/20).

Mr Walker's costs were also well below the average £203,880 claim from MPs between March 2020-March 2021.

By comparison, Conservative MP for Broxtowe Darren Henry, who had the highest total figure, spent £280,936.30, while Phillip Hollobone, Conservative MP for Kettering, claimed just £80,709.33.

Mr Walker spent £146,991.56 on office running costs in 2020-21, including £135,391.49 on staff wages and £11,145.43 on other office expenditures.

The Worcester MP spent £11,304.85 of his accommodation budget (£21,555), and a further £1,778.97 on travel and subsistence, including £603 on his car mileage and £926.80 on rail fares. 

Mr Walker said: "I always recognise this is taxpayers’ money and it needs to be spent carefully.

"The vast majority of the expenses budget went on staffing, and I think it's right, particularly in difficult times we've been through, that we maintain a focus on keeping it to the minimum level necessary to provide a good service to constituents."

MPs were also provided extra allocation within their budget to claim back the costs of working from home. 

However, Mr Walker says he decided not to dip into this fund.

"I took the decision that we shouldn't need to take the additional money, which was provided for Covid working, and we haven't used that budget at all.

"I appreciate others may have found themselves in a different situation where perhaps their staff needed laptops when they didn't have them, but as we've always worked with laptops, we felt there was no need to tap into that budget

In fact, Mr Walker claimed the least amount for expenses of all the MPs serving Worcestershire.

Mid Worcestershire MP Nigel Huddleston claimed the most with £201,143.10, however, remained below the national average. 

MP for West Worcestershire, Harriett Baldwin, claimed £189,557.70 - spending £161,987.44 on staffing.

In Wyre Forest, MP Mark Garnier spent £192,250.50, while North Herefordshire MP Bill Wiggin claimed £197,438.20.

Tory MP for the Cotswolds, Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, also claimed a healthy £190,402.70.