At a time when so many elected representatives are being shown to have claimed large allowances, perhaps we might reflect why pay for MPs was introduced.

It became clear over a century ago that unless members were paid, it would be impossible for individuals of modest means to take up their seats.

Without pay and allowances for MPs we would have a House of Commons full of landed gentry and scions of wealthy families.

So many MPs today seem to have forgotten this fact and are using a system of allowances in a way which would have scandalised those early pioneers.

They also seem to be incredibly naive and willing to pay large amounts of money for even basic services.

Is someone who is willing to let us pay over the odds for furnishings and maintenance, competent to exercise a restraining hand over public finances?

Some of the sums paid out are reminiscent of the occasional stories which appear in the Oxford Mail when cowboy traders rip off vulnerable customers.

Then there is the time involved in running some of these schemes. As anyone who has had even a modest amount of work done on a property will know, it can be very time-consuming. Surely these individuals who spend so much time doing up property so far from home should be spending it on looking after our interests?

This is to say nothing of the stress involved.

Is not moving house the third most stressful life event after bereavement and divorce? Perhaps these MPs will be claiming a further allowance to compensate for this.

Please do not think that all snouts are firmly embedded in the trough.

My wife is a local district councillor and early in her tenure made the decision, along with many colleagues, not to claim motor and telephone expenses to which they were entitled – at a time when there is so much pressure on the public purse.

So, when you are canvassed in the run-up to local elections, please do not judge all involved in politics by the standards of some of those at the top of the greasy pole.

Martin Roberts, Stone Close, Botley, Oxford