Speaker 'used taxpayers' air miles'

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Use of the air miles for family flights goes against official guidelines that MPs should use them to reduce the cost of future business travel paid for from the public purse.

Mr Martin chairs the House of Commons Members Estimate Committee, which oversees MPs' expenses. He is also heading the parliamentary inquiry into MPs' expenses in the wake of the furore over former Tory MP Derek Conway's employment of his sons.

The Sunday Mirror revealed that the return flights were worth a total of £3,090.50, but the family saved around £360 a head by using Mr Martin's air miles.

A spokesman for the Speaker said that his son Paul paid £309 and his daughter Mary Ann £230.50 towards the total flight costs.

Mr Martin last year clocked up £10,587 in parliamentary allowances to cover air travel on official business - much of it covering his journeys with wife Mary between Westminster and their Scottish home.

According to the Sunday Mirror, he has amassed more than one million air miles, and cashed in 54,000 of them for the New Year trip by his children's families.

Mary Ann flew with her husband and son from Glasgow to London on December 28, returning on January 6, while Paul travelled with his wife and two daughters on December 30, returning January 2.

Ministers are banned from using air miles for personal use but MPs, including Mr Martin, are not covered by the same rules. Instead advice from Commons officials is that they should be used only for business.

Liberal Democrat MP Norman Baker, who has called for reform of Westminster perks, said: "This will further damage public confidence in the system of parliamentary expenses. A benefit which is accrued because of spending by the taxpayer should be returned to the taxpayer."