KENT'S MPs claimed more than £2million in allowances to help them with their work last year, new figures have shown.

The county's 17 MPs between them received £2.15million, an average of £126,485 for each. Many claimed the full allowance they are entitled to for covering the costs of a second home in London.

The MPs appealed for understanding about the figures, saying that in many cases the allowances did not cover all the costs involved in dealing with constituency casework.

Others pointed put that travel claims varied because of the size or location of their constituency.

Gravesham Conservative MP Adam Holloway received the second highest sum at £138,649, including £84,246 for staff. He said: "The staffing allowance should be double. I have a huge constituency casework and could quite easily spend double the amount. As it is, my office only manages to deal with the workload because we have unpaid interns [researchers]."

He said it was "almost pointless" to try to defend the figures because they were sensationalised by the media and taken out of context. The allowance for second homes was necessary because of the long hours the Commons sat for, he said.

"It [the data] is very badly reported. I get to the office at about 7.30am and most evenings probably leave after 10pm. I am not spending hours more travelling."

Faversham and Mid Kent MP Hugh Robertson was the second most frugal MP in the county, receiving £113,597.

"I am in favour of these figures being published and being out in the open and if any constituent wants to look over my figures, they are more than welcome to do so. I do think the system is needlessly complex and the staffing allowance should be published separately."

Sir John Stanley, Conservative MP for Tonbridge and Malling claimed the least, receiving £94,856. His office costs were just £5,750 and his staffing costs at £61,000 were substantially lower than most of his colleagues.

He said: "I do not, by choice, have a large number of staff because I choose to do what I have always done and that is to deal with all my constituency correspondence personally and personally follow up constituents' concerns as far as I can."

He criticised the system for effectively allowing MPs to claim up to £44,000 a year in mortgage interest on their secondary residence and said he had not claimed a £10,000 allowance now provided to MPs for communications.

"That is simply using taxpayers' money for self-promotion prior to a general election. It is quite wrong for taxpayers to fund promotional material produced by sitting MPs," he added.