A WANNABE MP has vowed not to claim a penny for food or furniture if he is elected next year.

Will Quince, the Conservative parliamentary candidate for Colchester, says he will never vote to increase his salary, never employ a member of his family and never claim for his tax advice.

Mr Quince has also promised to make public all his personal and office expenses incurred as an MP on his website, and send unedited claims to local newspapers at the end of every financial year.

Describing it as a “Contract with Colchester”, he said it would let residents know how he would act if elected.

He said: “Like many people in Colchester and the country as a whole, I have been angered and deeply disappointed by the MPs’ expenses revelations.

“I would see furnishing my own flat as my responsibility and I can’t see how an MP can spend £400 a month on their own food. “The deal is simple, if I break the contract, don’t vote for me.”

The publication of MPs’ expenses this year embarassed a host of local MPs.

North Essex Tory Bernard Jenkin claimed £50,000 over four years to rent the constituency home from his wife’s sister, although he said this was down to a mistake by the House of Commons fees office.

Fellow Conservative Sir Alan Haslehurst agreed to pay back thousands of pounds claimed for his gardens, while Harwich MP Douglas Carswell had to defend paying £655 for a “love seat”.

Mr Russell, who has been Colchester’s Lib Dem MP since 1997, said: “It is a matter for him to put forward his proposals.

“I’m more interested in what Conservative MPs are already doing.”

Jordan Newell, who is standing for Labour in Colchester, added: “I have no problem with it, but it is seeking to make a virtue out of something that I have already committed myself to.”