MP expense claims made public yesterday by the House of Commons included those of Stretford and Urmston MP, Bev Hughes.

They revealed the MP regularly claimed between £1,600 and £2,000 a month for additional living expenses between 2004 and 2008.

The lion’s share of that figure was the £1,100 rent on her London flat, while her second biggest claim was for food, with an average monthly bill of £305.

Ms Hughes, who quit her minister of state post for children, schools and families earlier this month ahead of a cabinet reshuffle, also claimed £152.69 for a phone bill in July 06, and regularly spent upwards of £60 on phone calls in other months.

Speaking on Friday, the day after MPs’ epxenses were made public, Ms Hughes said of her food bill claims: “The breakdown clearly shows that out of a total of 48 months, I claimed the full amount on only 12 occasions - all months when Parliament is at its busiest and I had to be in London more often.

“When there were recess periods and I was able to be at home more, the claims are consequently reduced. Out of a maximum £4,800 per year, I claimed substantially less in each year.

“I might add that my flat has no oven or hob because I have never bought one because, by necessity, I have to eat mostly at the House of Commons.”

She also said the high telephone bills coincided with heavy workloads at certain times of the year. “The monthly bills vary that year (2006) between £25.70 and £152.69. The bill claimed in July covered mostly June, a heavy work month in the run up to recess.”

And on an £802 bill she claimed to re-upholster furniture, she added: “The sofa bed was, in fact, taken from home in 1997 at no cost to the expenses.

“When I had a new loose cover made for it in 2007 it was over 20 years old and still had the original cover that needed replacing. I did not buy a new sofa bed but replaced the cover at a much lower cost.