How much should a Member of Parliament spend on a website?

I’m all for MPs spending money on websites* and, just because you can set something up for free in five minutes, that doesn’t mean an MP can’t sensibly spend a reasonable chunk of money on a website.

Good MP websites contain a wealth of content, design and functionality for which it is reasonable to pay something.

But the news that Conservative MP Angela Browning’s spent £9,635 for a pretty basic website plus 30 months hosting/support does look very odd. From what I’ve seen, I can’t see how that price is justified: it is substantially more than a range of website suppliers have charged the Liberal Democrats or one of our MPs for doing websites that were substantially more work to do.

(By contrast, she also spent £2,714 on getting a company to redectorate her kitchen, including new worktops and a sink. A tip for any MP not sure on what a website should cost: if you’re spending more than three times as much on your website as on your kitchen, something’s most likely gone wrong.)

* Though given how closely their MP and political roles are entwined, it’s almost always best to pay for a website out of party funds rather than Parliamentary allowances.