Depending on your point of view, David Davis’s resignation to stand for the Haltemprice and Howden seat on the issue of civil liberties was a principled stand against the burgeoning surveillance state or an extended ego trip. With Mr Davis easily retaining his seat, taking 75% of the vote on an impressive 35% turnout, now is a good time to ask, how much did the by-election cost the taxpayer?

The figure of £80,000 has generally been used by news outlets, based on a Ministry of Justice estimate. One Labour minister, Tom Harris, has quoted a figure of £200,000, presumably based on this Telegraph report, which includes the cost for the free mailing to all candidates. However, the Royal Mail and the Ministry of Justice have so far been unable to confirm this figure.

East Riding of Yorkshire Council, who ran the byelection, confirmed the 2005 Parliamentary election cost £95,000. However, they estimate this time round the cost will be around £80,000, which the Ministry of Justice will fully reimburse them. Like the press, however, they base that figure on a Ministry of Justice estimate. It doesn’t include the £11,500 the Treasury keeps because 23 candidates lost their £500 deposit, as they failed to gain more than 5% of the vote. This brings the total estimated net cost of the byelection to £68,500, or 0.1p per UK resident. A tall price to pay for a civil liberties debate?