AN EAST Lancashire MP has said an independent body which oversees politicians’ expenses is ‘too bureaucratic’.

Hyndburn MP Graham Jones has said the current body overseeing MPs’ expenses do not reveal a full picture to members of the public.

Mr Jones said the differences between what each MP claims is tricky to see under the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority.

He said: “As MP I claim for a London flat, travel and staff costs but I do not claim for local travel, food or childcare.

“Peak standard class rail fare to London is £280, off peak £80. I manage nearly always to travel off peak to save the taxpayer £200.

"However the problem is that IPSA tables are a crude system. They do not explain that MPs still on the old mortgage system claim less and they do not have clear separate tables for food, childcare, travel and other extras.

“It is a £7m bureaucratic organisation that wastes money on tortuous paperwork for small claims.”