It seems that the new Neath MP is running a much tighter expenses' budget than her predecessor. It is very early days and it is difficult comparing like with like because IPSA rules have changed so as to tighten up on the claims MPs may make. And we only have a relatively short timeframe to look at with Christina Rees not taking office until May 2015.

But if we take a randomly chosen period of say 6 months from July - December 2014 and July - December 2015 we get the following:

Peter Hain:               Total expenses £17,739
Christina Rees:         Total expenses £4,871

Now that is a pretty staggering difference in percentage terms. I need to take a careful look as to why there is such a difference. It's already quickly apparent that Ms Rees is not claiming rent for the use of 39 Windsor Road. No doubt Ferret readers will draw their own conclusions as to why - she is entitled to claim, by the way.  But initial soundings suggest Ms Rees is a totally different animal to what we had before. No doubt my old mate Aesop would have made a good fable out of it. You'll definitely hear from me further on this.