'Commons works less but costs more'

The above graph is taken from the Mail on Sunday and shows that the average length of sitting in the House of Commons is in steady decline.  The newspaper's Simon Walters writes:

"Parliament sat for just 146 days in 2007, a joint record low for a non-election year – and equal to just 29 working weeks at Westminster.  It compares with an average of 209 days a year since the Second World War.  The official report by the Commons authorities also shows that inflation-busting rises in their wages and expenses have doubled the cost of an average MP from £125,000 a year to £250,000 in less than 20 years."