Army of politicians is costing taxpayers £500m a year

Jul 14 2009 by Tomos Livingstone, Western Mail

TAXPAYERS are shelling out £500m a year for an army of 29,000 professional politicians, according to figures released yesterday.

The total was calculated by the BBC after a mammoth freedom of information (FOI) operation to collect financial and personnel details from Westminster, Brussels, local councils and the devolved administrations.