The dozen MPs representing the north and north-east of Scotland cost taxpayers more than £2million in expenses and staff last year.
Figures published by the Westminster watchdog yesterday showed that the total business costs for the 12 came to just over £2,056,598, plus more than £800,000 in pay.
The 2014-15 bill was an 8% decrease on the previous year in the total amount claimed for accommodation, office costs, staffing, travel and miscellaneous expenditure.
Just four of the north and north-east MPs whose expenses are detailed in the latest accounts remained members of the House of Commons after this year’s general election.
UK-wide, spending rose 1.6% to nearly £106million, according to the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa).
The overall increase was the slowest in recent years, and could indicate many MPs were winding-down their activities in the run-up to the general election.
Staffing costs went up by £2.2million to £82.7million, but spending on flats, hotels, travel and subsistence was down about £150,000 at £11.6million.
The amount spent on renting and equipping offices was £10.7million.
Politicians had 4,021 staff on their books compared with fewer than 3,000 in 2009-10.
Among the highest claimers in the north and north-east was former Gordon MP Sir Malcolm Bruce, who claimed £206,578 in total.
He also had the highest staffing costs at £144,493, more than the standard £138,600 allowance for MPs based outside London.
But Ipsa confirmed the amount he could claim was upped to £153,646 to enable Sir Malcolm, who is to receive a peerage, to cover the additional cost of staff absence.
The former Liberal Democrat deputy leader told The Press and Journal his assistant at the House of Commons had gone on maternity leave and highlighted the extra cost of paying for redundancies in the context of his stepping down.
Asked to comment on the fact his claim was the seventh highest of all MPs, excluding travel costs, he said he thought he had always been near the top.
He added: “I represented a north of Scotland constituency conscientiously and assiduously.”
Fellow Liberal Democrat John Thurso, whose Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross seat was seized by the SNP’s Paul Monaghan, was the MP with the lowest bill in the regions at £149,688.
Next lowest was former chief Treasury secretary Danny Alexander with a bill of just over £150,131.
He claimed the most out of the north and north-east MPs for office costs – £23,223 – but did not ask for any taxpayer money to go towards paying for his second home for a fourth year in a row.
Former Scottish secretary Alistair Carmichael again had the highest transport bill at just over £27,157, a significant fall from the £43,219 he spent the previous year.