Liberal Democrat MP Sarah Green has spent £120,000 of taxpayers’ cash with a firm run by her own party members.

The MP for Chesham and Amersham claimed the money on expenses over the last three years after she won the 2021 by-election.

The regular payments from Green’s office all went to Midas Training Solutions Ltd, a consultancy firm owned by senior Lib Dem official Candy Piercy and her husband Michael.

The businesswoman’s LinkedIn profile says she has worked for the Lib Dems for 34 years, including as a senior strategist and press officer on multiple by-elections.

Miranda Roberts, who represents Green on her constituency’s executive committee, is also listed as a director of Midas on Companies House.

The Aylesbury-based firm has provided Green with casework support, onboarding, recruitment, consultancy, training, away days, email inbox management, workflow reviews, speech writing, communications and research.

Green’s office declined to comment but a Lib Dem spokesperson claimed that most MPs employ staff who are members of their political party, including councillors, activists, and party officers and that there was ‘nothing unusual about this’.

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The spokesperson said the way Green has been buying in staffing services is common, standard practice and within the rules of expenses regulator, the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA).

They added that the MP has always acted entirely within IPSA rules, has been fully transparent and reported her staffing costs in full to the regulator ‘in the normal and correct way’.

IPSA has also confirmed that the payments made by Green’s office came under the MPs’ expenses scheme, which allows them to carry out their parliamentary duties.

The regulator’s handbook says that MPs must be mindful of whether they are getting good ‘value for money’ when making expenses claims.

The rules also state that holders of public office must adhere to the seven principles of public life, which include ‘taking decisions impartially’.

The principles also state: “They should not act or take decisions in order to gain financial or other material benefits for themselves, their family, or their friends. They must declare and resolve any interests and relationships.”

In defending Green’s expenses, the Lib Dems, pointed the finger at the Conservatives, including the neighbouring Conservative MP for Beaconsfield, Joy Morrisey.

Morrisey’s staff costs of £226,259.16 submitted to IPSA in 2022-2023 were slightly higher than the £219,600.40 Green spent that year.

However, in the financial year just gone, Green’s combined business costs for accommodation, office expenses and staffing were £70,644.91.

This was far more than any of her neighbouring Conservative MPs in Buckinghamshire, including Morrissey, whose costs totalled £26,663.17.

However, it should be noted that for 2023-2024, the current IPSA data excludes the vast majority of staffing costs for payroll, which the regulator has not yet published for the latest financial year.

In the same year, Greg Smith (Buckingham) spent £25,823.72, Steve Baker (Wycombe) £22,516.26 and Rob Butler (Aylesbury) £17,062.47.

Midas said it was a family run business that has provided ‘bespoke consultancy and training services to hundreds of UK and international organisations including the NHS and the United Nations’ for more than 20 years.

A spokesperson for the firm said: “We have worked with politicians from all mainstream UK political parties. Whenever we work with the public sector we put value and service at the heart of our approach.”