By Alex Schweitzer-Thompson

DUNDEE MP Jim McGovern claims the safety of parliamentarians is under threat following the release of their travel expense details.

Following a two-year campaign by Liberal Democrat MP Norman Baker for the disclosure of the figures, a report by the House of Commons authorities reveals precisely the incurred travel expenditure claimed back by MPs nationwide.

Mr McGovern, Labour member for Dundee West, said last night that the public has no right to access these statistics—which state exactly how much MPs have claimed for the use of various modes of transport in their parliamentary duties—and that further such reports are now susceptible to overly-specific detail.

“I don’t think it was a good idea the figures were released,” he said. “It’s transport that’s used in company business—why should people hear about that?” he asked.

“As far as I’m aware, the global figure for each MP was published fairly recently. Will the next thing be: ‘Jim McGovern visited this street, at this time, on this day?’

“Where do you draw the line? I know many of my colleagues are concerned that, if this reaches its logical conclusion, it will be easy for anyone who wants to kidnap, injure or assault an MP because they’ll know their exact movements,” he said.

“I don’t see why the figures need to be so specific. Eventually I’ll have to name the constituents I have to visit,” said Mr McGovern.

The report concluded that MPs from Tayside and the rest of Scotland reclaimed a considerably higher rate of travel costs compared to their English counterparts. This, said Mr McGovern, is solely owing to larger distances covered to and from their constituency and the House of Commons.

“I think the further away you get, it’s obvious you will spend more,” he said. “I have never driven to London. Other MPs might come to London on Monday or Sunday night and find that a matter needs attended to on a Wednesday or Thursday, and they need to be back as soon as possible, which would mean a flight.

“For example, when NCR were to make their announcement, I immediately cancelled my flight for the end of the week and got the overnight sleeper in midweek to be able to be here.”

Mr McGovern claimed £13,159 between March 2005 and April of last year, a figure typical of the amount Tayside MPs have spent on travel in that period. His expenditure of nearly £2000 on rail journeys and almost £10,000 on flights was representative of the average local MP.