MPs’ business costs
Blair McDougall
IPSA paid £196,178 against 192 published rows for Blair McDougall between 2024-25 and 2025-26 as the member for East Renfrewshire 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, 2024-25
150 claims, £186,206 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. | 3 | £122,869 | 66.0% |
| Office costs | Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage. | 111 | £25,725 | 13.8% |
| 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. | 23 | £18,208 | 9.8% |
| Travel | Journeys between the constituency and Westminster and within the constituency. Until 2018-19 IPSA published one travel category; from 2019-20 it publishes travel by the MP, by staff and by a dependant separately. | 12 | £18,843 | 10.1% |
| Miscellaneous | Claims IPSA records under none of the headings above. Called “Miscellaneous Expenses” until 2018-19. | 1 | £560 | 0.3% |
Every year in the register
Blair McDougall’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2024-25 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 | Miscellaneous | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 150 | £122,869 | £25,725 | £18,208 | £18,843 | £560 | £186,206 |
| 2025-26 | 42 | — | £8,956 | £1,017 | — | — | £9,973 |
A year in which Blair McDougall 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, 2024-25
The cost types IPSA records inside each heading, largest first by what it paid.
Staffing
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Payroll | 1 | £119,069 |
| Pooled staffing services | 1 | £2,300 |
| Training - staff | 1 | £1,500 |
Office costs
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Maintenance, Redecorations & Repairs | 10 | £7,918 |
| Stationery & printing | 69 | £7,712 |
| Equipment - purchase | 11 | £2,578 |
| Software & applications | 4 | £2,403 |
| Rent | 5 | £2,250 |
| Website hosting and design | 1 | £1,500 |
Accommodation
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Rent | 6 | £14,245 |
| Hotel - London | 7 | £3,307 |
| Council tax | 1 | £480 |
| Utilities | 8 | £151 |
| Landline phone & internet - rental & usage | 1 | £26 |
Travel
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Air travel | 3 | £13,811 |
| Hotel - London | 2 | £2,584 |
| Rail | 2 | £2,059 |
| Hotel - European | 1 | £278 |
| Parking | 1 | £55 |
| Other public transport | 2 | £43 |
Miscellaneous
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Removals | 1 | £560 |
Largest claims, 2024-25
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 March 2025 | Staffing | Payroll | Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2024-25 year | £119,069 | £119,069 |
| 31 March 2025 | MP Travel | Air travel | Aggregated figure for travel during 2024-25 | £11,378 | £11,378 |
| 4 March 2025 | Accommodation | Rent | — | £2,400 | £2,400 |
| 4 February 2025 | Accommodation | Rent | — | £2,400 | £2,400 |
| 6 January 2025 | Accommodation | Rent | — | £2,400 | £2,400 |
| 3 December 2024 | Accommodation | Rent | — | £2,400 | £2,400 |
| 5 November 2024 | Accommodation | Rent | — | £2,400 | £2,400 |
| 25 February 2025 | Staffing | Pooled staffing services | Parliamentary Research Service (Labour) | £2,300 | £2,300 |
| 28 October 2024 | Accommodation | Rent | [***]Blair McDougall-[***]-1st Rent | £2,245 | £2,245 |
| 31 March 2025 | Staff Travel | Air travel | Aggregated figure for travel during 2024-25 | £2,094 | £2,094 |
| 31 March 2025 | Staff Travel | Hotel - London | Aggregated figure for travel during 2024-25 | £1,954 | £1,954 |
| 31 March 2025 | MP Travel | Rail | Aggregated figure for travel during 2024-25 | £1,866 | £1,866 |
| 3 March 2025 | Office Costs | Maintenance, Redecorations & Repairs | Joinery and plaster works at new office | £1,800 | £1,800 |
| 24 March 2025 | Office Costs | Maintenance, Redecorations & Repairs | VALLANCE DISCOUNT CARP [200011725-7222] | £1,597 | £1,597 |
| 19 March 2025 | Office Costs | Website hosting and design | https://montpellier-bice.vercel.app/ | £1,500 | £1,500 |
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 Blair McDougall 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 · Blair McDougall’s register of interests and votes · Sources