The IWCA’s Leys Independent newsletter revealed the details of Oxfoprd East MP Andrew Smith’s expenses a year and a half ago, but he would not, at the time, comment on the matter.

He has now been forced to come clean, due to media attention on MPs’ expense claims, but instead of an apology for milking the system, we get self-justification and laughable nonsense about having done his best to claim “within the spirit of the rules”.

While hard-working men and women in his constituency struggle to keep the wolf from their door, due to New Labour’s political and financial incompetence, he receives more than eight times the average wage of his constituents (and the disparity widens considerably when we focus solely on working class residents).

In 1945, when arguing for decent homes for working class people, Labour Health Minister Nye Bevan, a principled, tough, ex-coal miner, asked: “Why ought the farm labourer to live in worse conditions than the doctor? Does he work any less hard?"

The contrast between Bevan, who used his position to work for social justice, and New Labour MPs such as Andrew Smith, who jealously guard a system that allows them to line their own pockets and laugh behind our backs, couldn’t be greater.

I am sure Oxford Mail readers would like Andrew Smith to explain why he believes that his £4,000 (excluding pension) per week is money well spent.

STUART CRAFT, City Councillor, Independent Working Class Association, Oxford Town Hall