Comparison of work between John Hemming and Jess Phillips.
The website public whip records details of each MP's voting records. MPs normally don't vote in every division, but the voting record
is one aspect of how committed an MP is. In the 2010-2015 parliament John Hemming voted in 1080 votes out of 1239 which is 87.2% of votes (approx 90%). In the 2015-2017 parliament
Jess Phillips voted in 337 votes out of 462 which is 72.9% (approx 70%).
Is the MP independently minded or just voting the party line
Of the 337 votes in 2015-16 Jess Phillips voted against her party line only once. (0.2967%) Of the 1080 votes in 2010-15 John Hemming voted against the party line on 39 occasions. (3.6111%) which is 12 times
as rebellious or independent. Oddly enough Jeremy Corbyn voted against the rest of the party twice which was more often than Jess Phillips.
Select Committees
John Hemming was a member of 5 select committees and attended a very large number of committee meetings. Jess Phillips was a member of two select committees.
Personal expenses cost of MP
In the financial year 2015-6 (which is the only year for which full figures are available) Jess Phillips claimed £21,387.63 for accommodation and £5,929.96 for travel - a total of £27,317.59. In the financial year 2014-5 John Hemming claimed
nothing for accommodation costs and £1,955.90 for travel. The staffing costs are for running the Constituency Office. Jess Phillips employed her husband and charged the bill to the taxpayer. John Hemming did not
employ any relatives.
This Website has details of the expenses charged by MPs.
This blog details some questions she has not answered
Response to Labour Criticism on Expenses
Every so often Labour criticise John Hemming on expenses. A detailed review of every member of parliament was done in 2009 and the conclusion letter appears below:
Equal pay and parliamentary staff
Mary McGovern has said: "If you look on IPSA it gives staff salary ranges. Phillips appears to employ women as ‘caseworkers’ which are low paid jobs,
higher paid jobs go to males, i.e. Office Manager, Communications Officer & Constituency Support Manager. Looks like she employs 1 women as Parliamentary caseworker
(white woman who went to private school) and 1 woman as Yardley caseworker (woman of colour). I think she employs a woman as parliamentary assistant.
According to IPSA, these positions lower pay than the positions Phillips has filled with men. Yardley caseworker probably on lowest pay.
As a comparison the highest paid worker in John Hemming's parliamentary office - the office manager - was a woman.