MPs’ business costs

Christine Jardine

IPSA paid £1,955,157 against 1,075 published rows for Christine Jardine between 2017-18 and 2025-26 as the member for Edinburgh West BC. These are the costs of running an office and employing staff under IPSA’s rules. They are not salary, and the largest part of them is wages IPSA pays to the member’s employees rather than money the member receives.

By category, 2025-26

80 claims, £16,492 paid. The headings are IPSA’s own categories grouped; the categories inside each are named on the register page.

CategoryWhat it coversClaimsPaidShare
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.61£13,93784.5%
AccommodationThe cost of somewhere to stay for an MP whose constituency is far enough from Westminster that IPSA's rules allow it. An MP representing a London seat is not eligible on the same terms.19£2,55515.5%

Every year in the register

Christine Jardine’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2017-18 and the last is 2025-26. Figures are not adjusted for inflation, so a rise between two distant years is partly a rise in prices. Select a year to read it on its own.

YearClaimsStaffingOffice costsAccommodationTravelTotal
2017-18133£85,906£25,728£13,004£11,597£136,235
2018-19113£143,080£24,696£25,006£31,535£224,318
2019-20101£142,307£26,580£18,244£29,561£216,691
2020-2183£165,944£24,816£20,873£6,646£218,279
2021-22105£179,982£24,425£20,730£18,593£243,729
2022-23155£197,004£27,893£19,759£25,597£270,253
2023-24170£225,518£27,191£23,305£33,510£309,524
2024-25135£229,506£31,271£24,561£34,298£319,636
2025-2680£13,937£2,555£16,492

A year in which Christine Jardine joined or left the House part-way through is a part year, and is not comparable with a full one.

What each category is made of, 2025-26

The cost types IPSA records inside each heading, largest first by what it paid.

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Utilities12£3,561
Maintenance, Redecorations & Repairs11£3,134
Equipment - purchase4£1,832
Waste disposal, confidential waste & rubbish collection8£1,073
Stationery & printing9£962
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage6£821

Accommodation

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Utilities10£1,205
Council tax1£763
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage8£587

Largest claims, 2025-26

The 15 rows IPSA paid most against, with IPSA’s own description of each. Read the description before the amount: IPSA publishes most of a member’s staffing as one row for the whole year — “Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the ⟨year⟩ year” — so the largest row here is usually a year of wages for the member’s employees and not something bought.

DateCategoryCost typeDescriptionClaimedPaid
30 September 2025Office CostsEquipment - purchaseComputer, laptop, PC, tablet & accessories£1,476£1,476
20 November 2025Office CostsMaintenance, Redecorations & RepairsReplacement of constituency office ceiling lights with LED panels£1,062£1,062
3 September 2025Office CostsUtilitiesElectricity£960£960
21 April 2025AccommodationCouncil taxWWW.WESTMINSTER.GOV.UK£763£763
31 March 2025Office CostsCleaning servicesWindow cleaning£600£600
22 July 2025Office CostsUtilitiesElectricity£595£595
6 June 2025Office CostsUtilitiesElectricity£538£538
3 March 2025AccommodationUtilitiesWater£536£536
6 August 2025Office CostsMaintenance, Redecorations & RepairsAnnual building insurance£365£365
15 September 2025Office CostsMaintenance, Redecorations & RepairsWindow Cleaning£360£360
22 April 2025Office CostsUtilitiesDual Fuel£312£312
20 June 2025Office CostsAdvertising and contact cardsPayment for publication of an advert in a church magazine£312£312
15 May 2025Office CostsUtilitiesDual Fuel£286£286
16 May 2025Office CostsMaintenance, Redecorations & RepairsWindow graphics and above door sign£280£280
28 October 2025Office CostsLandline phone & internet - installation & equipment purchaseLandline & internet package£272£272

What this page does not show

Whether any of it was justified. IPSA accepted these claims under its own rules and the register records what was paid, not whether it should have been. A large total is not a finding about the member.

Nor how Christine Jardine compares with another member. After staffing the largest headings are accommodation and travel, and both are decided mostly by where a constituency is: a member several hundred miles from Westminster is eligible for costs a member with a London seat is not. Two members’ totals are two sets of rules as much as two sets of choices, and the length of service differs too.

It is also not pay. IPSA sets and publishes MPs’ salaries separately and they are not in this register; the staffing figure here is the salaries of the member’s employees.

All MPs’ business costs · Christine Jardine’s register of interests and votes · Sources