Speaker's wife 'can splash on cabs'

Updated 17.49 Wed May 14 2008

The wife of Commons Speaker Michael Martin is allowed to spend thousands of pounds a year on taxis, it has emerged.

Mary Martin's £2,500 allowance was set up six years ago because of the pressures on her husband's time.

Roughly once a month during Commons terms she visited a large supermarket where she kept the taxi on a "wait and return" basis because they were "not easy to hail"

The expenses claims - charged to the taxpayer - have been defended by the House of Commons on the grounds that they support Mr Martin in his official role.

The Speaker's office has also previously claimed that Mrs Martin was shopping for official functions.

But, in an interview with the Parliamentary sleaze watchdog, Mr Martin disclosed the provisions were consumed by the couple themselves, although they "were also used for hospitality".

The Speaker's evidence emerged as John Lyon, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, cleared Mr Martin following a complaint about the taxi trips.

Mr Lyon said the claims - amounting to £4,139.17 since 2004 - were "reasonable" and within the rules.

Mark Wallace, the campaign director of the TaxPayers' Alliance who submitted the complaint, said it appeared the trips were "more for food for the Martins than for official functions".

He went on: "If so, it's shocking that they are able to use taxpayers' money for taxis to do their domestic grocery shopping. If this is within the rules, then the rules urgently need tightening up."

The Speaker has faced a storm of controversy over MPs' expenses and is leading a High Court challenge against their publication in detail.

He has also faced questions about his own use of the second home allowance and Mrs Martin's taxi journeys.

The Speaker said he had "tremendous pressures on his time from early morning" until, often, late at night and "Mr Speaker's duty demanded that he be in the House".

Some of the food was also used for providing refreshments during meetings in his grace-and-favour apartments in the Commons.

Mrs Martin has taken 156 taxpayer-funded taxi journeys since 2004, it has been revealed.

Roughly once a month during Commons terms she visited a large supermarket where she kept the taxi on a "wait and return" basis because they were "not easy to hail".

Dozens more visits were to smaller shops to purchase "further provisions and perishables", official clothes for Mr Martin and table decorations for official functions.

The couple also claimed for a taxi trip to a store to pick new furnishings for the Speaker's House as part of the £700,000 of rolling improvements carried out since he took the job in 2000.