SO Helen Jones received £165,000 of taxpayers’ money in 2007/8, making her the 44th most expensive MP.

Had she represented the Outer Hebrides this might be explained if not justified. The few snippets of expenses given in last Thursday’s Guardian throw little light on where the money has gone and until there is a full breakdown of how she spends our money we will have to reserve judgement. In the meantime I have a few suggestions.

To avoid the appearance of a rather lucrative family business I would suggest that it is unwise to employ one’s spouse at public expense. If Mr Vobe ‘could earn a lot more if he was not working for me’, then that is exactly what he should do. This would deflect any suggestions of nepotism and help to swell her family income to compensate for the much more stringent expenses regime to come.

Four hundred pounds a month for food? Why is food subsidised when you cannot eat in two places at once. And as Mrs Jones has a taxpayer funded house in London (which presumably has a cooker) there seems ample scope for reducing the dining out bill.

Moreover any profit from the sale of this house (£80,000 subsidy so far) should be returned to the Exchequer. The grim reality of our economic situation demands no less.

Mrs Jones asks us to focus on the ‘real issues’. How about the £700 billion her government plans to borrow over the next five years to continue its profligate ways – our grandchildren will be paying this off.

May I suggest her taking a lead by pledging to reduce her expenses to the bottom tenth of MPs rather than the top. Is she up for the challenge?

BOB TYLER Birchwood