MPs’ business costs
John Lamont
IPSA paid £2,080,696 against 1,917 published rows for John Lamont between 2017-18 and 2025-26 as the member for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk CC. 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
123 claims, £32,413 paid. The headings are IPSA’s own categories grouped; the categories inside each are named on the register page.
| Category | What it covers | Claims | Paid | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Staffing | The salaries and employment costs of the people an MP employs to run their office and casework. IPSA pays these directly; they are not money an MP receives. | 2 | £4,728 | 14.6% |
| Office costs | Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage. | 100 | £24,585 | 75.8% |
| Accommodation | The 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. | 21 | £3,100 | 9.6% |
Every year in the register
John Lamont’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.
| Year | Claims | Staffing | Office costs | Accommodation | Travel | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017-18 | 203 | £114,438 | £26,017 | £18,069 | £15,202 | £173,727 |
| 2018-19 | 230 | £140,768 | £24,129 | £18,745 | £28,582 | £212,224 |
| 2019-20 | 255 | £143,803 | £24,784 | £20,999 | £29,755 | £219,341 |
| 2020-21 | 160 | £174,950 | £29,434 | £22,998 | £13,131 | £240,513 |
| 2021-22 | 196 | £187,430 | £27,697 | £22,465 | £26,970 | £264,562 |
| 2022-23 | 256 | £205,417 | £27,313 | £23,873 | £24,828 | £281,431 |
| 2023-24 | 271 | £232,808 | £31,042 | £22,774 | £35,267 | £321,891 |
| 2024-25 | 223 | £238,937 | £29,707 | £25,878 | £40,073 | £334,595 |
| 2025-26 | 123 | £4,728 | £24,585 | £3,100 | — | £32,413 |
A year in which John Lamont 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.
Staffing
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Advertising and contact cards | 1 | £3,990 |
| Bought-in services | 1 | £738 |
Office costs
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Advertising and contact cards | 50 | £11,642 |
| Postage & couriers | 7 | £4,888 |
| Stationery & printing | 8 | £2,458 |
| Utilities | 12 | £2,039 |
| Mobile telephone - equipment purchase | 1 | £1,248 |
| Landline phone & internet - rental & usage | 11 | £701 |
Accommodation
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Utilities | 20 | £1,792 |
| Council tax | 1 | £1,308 |
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.
| Date | Category | Cost type | Description | Claimed | Paid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 31 July 2025 | Office Costs | Postage & couriers | Parliamentry update newsletter - postage | £4,349 | £4,349 |
| 18 August 2025 | Staffing | Advertising and contact cards | Parliamentary update leaflet (approved by IPSA) [200012973-1] | £3,990 | £3,990 |
| 17 July 2025 | Office Costs | Advertising and contact cards | Kelso Life - surgery advert (9 months) | £1,382 | £1,382 |
| 1 April 2025 | Accommodation | Council tax | London flat - council tax (split with Robbie Moore) | £1,308 | £1,308 |
| 12 June 2025 | Office Costs | Mobile telephone - equipment purchase | Iphone and protection case | £1,248 | £1,248 |
| 1 January 2026 | Office Costs | Advertising and contact cards | Hawick Paper - surgery advert (6 editions advance payment) | £1,224 | £1,224 |
| 1 July 2025 | Office Costs | Advertising and contact cards | Hawick Paper - surgery advert (6 months) | £1,224 | £1,224 |
| 7 July 2025 | Office Costs | Stationery & printing | Overprinting - surgery tour letter (approved) | £1,056 | £1,056 |
| 30 June 2025 | Office Costs | Advertising and contact cards | Border Telegraph - summer surgery advert | £834 | £834 |
| 15 February 2026 | Staffing | Bought-in services | Administrative services | £738 | £738 |
| 30 September 2025 | Office Costs | Advertising and contact cards | FACEBK [***] | £380 | £380 |
| 27 June 2025 | Office Costs | Advertising and contact cards | Hawick Paper - surgery tour advert | £360 | £360 |
| 23 October 2025 | Office Costs | Stationery & printing | Toner Cartridges for Westminster Office | £336 | £336 |
| 26 June 2025 | Office Costs | Stationery & printing | Printer toner for Hawick constituency office | £328 | £328 |
| 13 January 2026 | Accommodation | Utilities | Water | £300 | £300 |
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 John Lamont 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 · John Lamont’s register of interests and votes · Sources