MPs’ business costs

Ian Murray

IPSA paid £3,085,870 against 2,424 published rows for Ian Murray between 2010-11 and 2025-26 as the member for Edinburgh South 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, 2022-23

172 claims, £229,525 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.	16	£180,592	78.7%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	114	£25,248	11.0%
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.	17	£5,959	2.6%
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.	25	£17,726	7.7%

Every year in the register

Ian Murray’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2010-11 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
2010-11	161	£83,066	£25,023	£17,834	£10,209	—	£136,132
2011-12	179	£117,449	£25,871	£19,889	£11,009	—	£174,217
2012-13	151	£125,038	£26,950	£19,375	£12,112	—	£183,476
2013-14	143	£129,454	£27,218	£21,515	£10,933	£62	£189,182
2014-15	162	£127,572	£25,790	£19,254	£8,710	—	£181,327
2015-16	133	£116,302	£22,916	£17,740	£10,777	—	£167,735
2016-17	150	£143,284	£23,608	£20,230	£12,557	—	£199,679
2017-18	150	£141,302	£24,149	£21,372	£12,447	—	£199,271
2018-19	140	£151,815	£24,499	£20,525	£12,612	—	£209,451
2019-20	169	£154,169	£24,439	£19,700	£12,656	—	£210,965
2020-21	132	£163,516	£23,274	£13,809	£2,738	—	£203,337
2021-22	173	£179,766	£28,850	£10,206	£10,028	—	£228,849
2022-23	172	£180,592	£25,248	£5,959	£17,726	—	£229,525
2023-24	177	£214,146	£28,988	£5,282	£17,583	—	£265,999
2024-25	154	£231,218	£29,822	£5,027	£13,519	—	£279,586
2025-26	78	—	£20,744	£6,394	—	—	£27,139

A year in which Ian Murray 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, 2022-23

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£172,767
Bought-in services	12	£6,250
Pooled staffing services	3	£1,575

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	12	£11,080
Utilities	16	£5,300
Stationery & printing	12	£1,368
Insurance - buildings	1	£999
Advertising and contact cards	4	£920
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage	4	£895

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Utilities	14	£2,603
Council tax	1	£2,359
Insurance - buildings	2	£997

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Air travel	3	£11,802
Taxi	6	£1,775
Rail	5	£1,773
Hotel - UK Not London	1	£1,007
Hotel - London	1	£540
Vehicle hire cost	1	£353

Largest claims, 2022-23

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 2023	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2022-23 year	£172,767	£172,767
31 March 2023	MP Travel	Air travel	Aggregated figure for travel during 2022-23	£9,707	£9,707
6 April 2022	Accommodation	Council tax	Council tax for the year	£2,359	£2,359
31 March 2023	Dependant Travel	Air travel	Aggregated figure for travel during 2022-23	£1,977	£1,977
31 March 2023	MP Travel	Taxi	Aggregated figure for travel during 2022-23	£1,400	£1,400
31 March 2023	Staff Travel	Hotel - UK Not London	Aggregated figure for travel during 2022-23	£1,007	£1,007
1 July 2022	Office Costs	Insurance - buildings	Buildings insurnace and all additional cover for the year	£999	£999
31 March 2023	MP Travel	Rail	Aggregated figure for travel during 2022-23	£973	£973
16 March 2023	Office Costs	Rent	—	£933	£933
16 February 2023	Office Costs	Rent	—	£933	£933
17 January 2023	Office Costs	Rent	—	£933	£933
15 December 2022	Office Costs	Rent	—	£933	£933
15 November 2022	Office Costs	Rent	—	£933	£933
18 October 2022	Office Costs	Rent	—	£933	£933
15 September 2022	Office Costs	Rent	—	£933	£933

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 Ian Murray 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 · Ian Murray’s register of interests and votes · Sources