Call for Rowen to justify staffing costs

Ian Duckworth

Ian Duckworth, ex Conservative Councillor, who is standing again in the May local elections hoping to be elected in Balderstone, has called on Rochdale MP Paul Rowen to account for his staffing costs in detail.

Mr Duckworth says the MP should tell the public exactly what the £79,722 Mr Rowen claimed was spent on, adding that there cannot possibly be that much casework in Rochdale.

Mr Duckworth said: "Given the sea change in the public and media's attitude to MP's 'expenses' I think it is now essential that the voters of Rochdale are given full details of how their money has been spent by Paul Rowen MP.

"Most importantly, what work do all of Paul Rowen's staff actually do? There cannot possibly be nearly £80,000 worth of casework in our town, but if there is, can we have the details?

"The great wrong would be taxpayers subsidising electioneering on the part of the Lib Dems. The only way to disprove this suspicion would be for a full breakdown of expenses, not vague generalisations.

"If there is nothing to hide then it will do no harm to clarify all the details, it is after all our money that's been spent.

"Let's have some real transparency from our elected member of parliament."

Mr Rowen has refused to go into detail saying previously: "I have no objections to people knowing the overall cost of staffing, which is published annually.  I employ four full-time staff members and one part-time member.  I have no wish to reveal individual salaries of staff."

Mr Rowen spent £79,722 last year - this was 456th out of the 646 MPs.  Jim Dobbin MP (Heywood and Middleton) spent £91,141 which was 52nd highest amongst all 646 MPs.