BASILDON MP Angela Smith has spent £13,900 on food over the past four years – mostly on eating out.

The Labour MP says with Parliament finishing up to 11pm each night, the last thing she wants to do is cook.

She spent an average of £289 a month on food under the second homes allowance, with the highest claim hitting the £400 maximum just once.

Despite the eating out, she still spent more than £1,400 over four years on kitchen equipment, including £305 on a new fridge, £319 on a dishwasher and £800 on replacement kitchen equipment, such as crockery, utensils, cookware and other equipment.

House-proud Mrs Smith claimed £2,624 for cleaners over the period, with an extra £387 spent on cleaning products, including £1.79 on Mr Muscle wipes and £2 on Bug Away wipes.

Mrs Smith spent £10,774 on mortgage interest for her two-bedroom Elephant and Castle flat, which is designated as her second home, from 2004 to 2008 – an average of £224 a month.

She also spent a total of £12,085 over the four years on refurbishments.

This included £6,819 on fitted furniture, £3,177 on a fitted wardrobe from Sliderobes and £3,642 on shelving from specialist Selex, plus replacement heating, other furniture, air conditioning, tiles and paint.

Mrs Smith also used the “other items” section under the allowance for household goods worth over £7,100, including £489 for a Bosch washing machine, £674 on TV satellite subscription and DVD, sofa covers at £551, £205 on floor mats and drying racks, £948 on blinds and curtains and £621 on new bedding.

Other purchases went on a number of mirrors, clocks and lights. A further £1,363 of other spending had receipts obscured, so it was not possible to tell what it went on.

She spent on £10,503 on repairs and maintenance, including £3,201 on heating and plumbing problems over five separate jobs.

As a leaseholder, the bulk of the rest went on compulsory service charges.

* ANGELA Smith says the expenses system needs to be changed, but on reflection believes her claims are justifiable.

She previously told the Echo the flat had undergone a tidy-up and says the amount spent on refurbishing it, has not added to its value.

She said: “They are practical storage solutions. They would not necessarily add to the value, as they are not to everyone’s taste.”

Mrs Smith said she had a cleaner in intermittently, and some of her claims, under the cleaning allowance, included dry cleaning when her washing machine broke down.

Mrs Smith said satellite TV had been to record regional news programmes, but reception was bad and she now has a £15 Freeview box.

Referring to her food claims she said: “It is less during the recess. I have rarely claimed the maximum.”