Angela C Smith MP with her husband SteveAmong the purchases made by Angela Smith, the Labour MP for Sheffield Hillsborough, were four beds for her one-bedroom London flat.
In her first year in Parliament, Miss Smith, whose husband Steve Wilson works for her as a researcher, claimed £7,800 under the additional costs allowance (ACA).
This paid for a king-size bed, two futons, bedding, kitchen utensils, carpets, curtains and electrical equipment including a blender and a steamer, as well as solicitors’ fees and stamp duty.
The following year she bought a £950 sofa bed and a “Lucia” chair worth £550 because she said the two futons purchased the year before had broken.
Her office expense claims, under the incidental expenses provision (IEP), during her first year in Parliament included an Olympus digital camera for £99.99.
The following year, she also claimed £536 for an Olympus E500, described by the manufacturer as “a creative photographer’s dream”.
She said the “original, cheaper camera was not up to the task” while the more expensive one enabled newspaper-quality pictures to be taken of her visiting “various groups and schools in my constituency”.
Her first three years saw Miss Smith, who is the parliamentary private secretary to Yvette Cooper, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, claim a total of £66,500 under the ACA scheme for second homes – including mortgage interest payments for her flat near Westminster of up to £1,269 a month – and £54,000 under the IEP scheme for office supplies.
Miss Smith said: “The principle of supporting MPs to set up a London base is an important one. You will note from my website that I did not claim for home contents of any kind in 2008-09 and I never will again. I have received support to set up a London base and am grateful for that, but that’s it. Future replacement costs will be borne by myself.”
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