by political editor Paul Francis

Details of how much former Kent MPs who retired or were defeated at the last general election received as their final pay-offs are being kept under wraps.

House of Commons authorities have rejected a request by the KM Group to be told how much each of the nine have claimed by way of what are known as resettlement grants.

The grants are paid to MPs to help them "adjust to non-parliamentary life".

Click here for our original story in June

They are seen as a redundancy payment but under reforms of the expenses system are to be replaced with different arrangements.

The KM Group submitted a request under the Freedom of Information Act seeking details of individual payments.

But the House of Commons said it was not prepared to release the information, arguing that it considered it to be private information - even though the money is paid by the public purse.

In rejecting the request, the Commons said: "The resettlement grant is an 'entitlement', in contrast to the other allowances.

"It is up to members whether they claim it and that decision would seem to be based on their personal financial position or their view of their entitlement to claim it, both of which are personal issues concerning someone who is no longer a member."

It added: "The grant is also intended to assist with the transition back into a non-parliamentary life, it is not paying for expenses incurred due to parliamentary duties.

"All of that adds up to more of a private issue, rather than a public one."

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However, it did confirm that so far, £9,663,486 had been paid to 225 former MPs.

Campaign group the Taxpayers' Alliance recently estimated that between them, the nine MPs from Kent between them were eligible to claim £442,329 - the equivalent of just under £50,000 each.

Sums depend on age and length of service, with the first £30,000 being tax free.