FOUR North-East MPs last night voted for a car allowance of 57.7p a mile - twice the AA's estimate of the cost of wear and tear.

John Cummings (Easington), Bill Etherington (Sunderland North), Derek Foster (Bishop Auckland) and Gerry Steinberg (Durham City) all backed the rate. They were joined by North Yorkshire Conservative MPs David Curry (Skipton and Ripon) and John Greenway (Ryedale).

But the MPs failed in a bid to delay a decision, made two months ago, to cut the rate to 40p for each of the first 10,000 miles and 25p after that.

Those reductions will now come into force in April, to bring the mileage rate for MPs into line with the Inland Revenue approved rate.

The Senior Salaries Review Body, which also recommends the level of MPs' pay, had suggested adopting the Inland Revenue rate, leading to the vote in November.

But some MPs said their overall income would dip dramatically.

The mileage cut, while still leaving the rate above the AA's estimate of wear and tear at 27p a mile, will cost an MP driving 20,000 miles a year about £3,000.

In November, Commons Leader Peter Hain said the reduced rates of 40p and 25p would cover the full cost of driving a smaller or medium-sized car. But, yesterday, he said "considerable concern about the abrupt implementation of the sharp reduction" from MPs had led to the chance to phase it in, over at least four years.

The motion for delay, which would also have allowed MPs to claim 57.7p for the first 20,000 miles, was rejected by 249 votes to 111, a 138 majority.