I have been asked by quite a few people what my view is on expenses. Let me start by saying that as a school teacher by profession, I find many of the claims that have been made outrageous. When I decided to enter teaching I accepted that I was not going to get rich from it. I was interested in the public service, and the same should be true of MPs.

A few residents have mentioned that I have been banging on about expenses in my newsletters for the past few years and they are right. Long before all of this broke, I had been campaigning hard against my opponent's use of the Communications Allowance and I had already pledged not use first class rail travel, not to use the Comms Allowance and not to claim for mileage driving around the constituency.

When I go to school to teach I buy my own lunch and I pay my own diesel to get to school. MPs earn enough and have to eat wherever they are, be it London or in their constituencies so why they have ever been able to claim for food is beyond me. Likewise, they earn enough to pay their own petrol bills and if they are so precious that they want to travel first class, they should pay for it themselves!

So here is what I have been pledging for the past couple of years, with a few new additions. If I am elected -

• I will not claim for food, furnishings or household goods.
• I will not claim for travel costs around the constituency.
• I will not make use of the Communications Allowance.
• I will not make any claims for first class travel.
• I will campaign for MPs to lose the power to set their own salaries.
• I will publish all of my claims on-line every month.
• My second home designation will remain London, no flipping between constituency and London home.

I am also not convinced that MPs should receive any pay rise over the course of the next Parliament but then, having argued that that should be a matter for an independent body, it would not be right for me to make a pledge which interferes with that.

There are obviously some things which MPs need to be provided with, office staff to deal with constituency casework and accommodation in London, as well as the ability to actually get to London. Beyond that, I can't really see what else they should be allowed to claim.

Incidentally, earlier in April, before The Telegraph stuff, I sent the following Freedom of Information request.

3. I request a full breakdown of claims made by Ian Cawsey MP for
mileage and travel from parliamentary allowances since April 2007. In
particular I request details of how many times this MP has used first
class rail or air travel under these allowances.

The response I received is below, so much for open access -

"This information is not subject to FOI and therefore the House of Commons is not obliged to disclose it. For further information about the application of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act to information of
this nature please refer to the linked document:"