How Brit taxpayers money goes down ministers kitchen sinks!

When a British MP does up his home, or for that matter even a kitchen sink, its the taxpayer who foots the bill.

London, May 24 : When a British MP does up his home, or for that matter even a kitchen sink, it's the taxpayer who foots the bill.

Like in the case of former British Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, who splashed 7,000 pounds to carry out repairs to his house, including - window cleaners, plants and luxury showers, it has emerged.

According to three boxes of receipts released on May 23 by the Commons authorities for 14 MPs, covering 2001-06, the Blairs spent more than 10,000 pounds on a new kitchen for their house in Sedgefield, more than twice as much as Gordon Brown spent on his kitchen at his London flat.

It also reveals that Tony and Cherie Blair were warned in 2005 that they had fallen 147.11 pounds behind on their water bills for Myrobella House, and bailiffs could be sent in if they did not pay up.

Blair also charged 515 pounds for a new Siemens dishwasher, plus installation in May 2005.

Peter Mandelson spent 3,000 pounds on a new shower for his Hartlepool home in 2003. Barbara Follett, the Stevenage MP and wife of Ken Follett, the millionaire novelist, claimed more than 1,600 pounds for window cleaning at her London home, with the cleaners visiting on 18 occasions at 94 pounds a time during 2003-04.

Margaret Beckett, the former Foreign Secretary, had a 600 pounds claim disallowed in 2006 for plants for her garden, reports TimesOnline.

She also claimed 4,753 pounds for refurbishment of her constituency home in 2006, including the replacement of the living room floorboards with a concrete floor after dry rot was discovered, converting a bedroom into a study, replacing locks and repairing a leaking roof.

Gordon Brown, then Chancellor, also submitted quarterly bills of 723 pounds for cleaning services and 650 pounds for food in 2005-06, as well as bills totaling about 4,500 pounds for refurbishment work on his kitchen in 2005 and 1,396 pounds for painting and decorating in 2006.

The report shows that too many Brit MPs are becoming an unsupportable expense.

ANI