Rebel Midland MPs attack expenses inquiry
Oct 14 2009 by Jonathan Walker, Birmingham Post
Rebel Midland MPs were today on a collision course with their party leaders after attacking the latest expenses inquiry as being riddled with errors and confusion.
The MPs have been ordered to pay back cash they received for good such as radiators, dining chairs and household repairs.
But many are challenging the ruling, because they believe an inquiry by auditor Sir Thomas Legg is full of mistakes.
Others have been asked to provide paperwork, including mortgage receipts, which they insist they have already given to the Commons authorities.
But their public anger over the latest probe into their finances flies in the face of orders from the party leaders to co-operate with Sir Thomas’ inquiry at all costs. Prime Minister Gordon Brown yesterday warned he was ready to consider withdrawing the party whip from Labour MPs who refuse to repay expenses, while David Cameron said Tories who did not co-operate would be barred from standing for the party.
Lynne Jones (Lab Selly Oak) has been asked to repay £800 after wrongly claiming twice for a new radiator in August 2005. However, she said she had already dealt with the issue with the Commons fees office, and the overpayment was cancelled out by an underpayment of £1,000 for the period of November 2004 to January 2005.
She said: “It is really a waste of time while I should be representing my constituents.”
Adrian Bailey (Lab West Bromwich West) has been asked to repay £268 after he claimed a total of £598 for dining chairs in 2006. However, he is writing to Sir Thomas to explain that the charge was for four chairs – which means the cost per chair is within the limits set down by the House of Commons – rather then for two, as the paperwork suggests.
Lorely Burt (Lib Dem Solihull) said she had been told that the fees office paid her twice for a single mortgage claim “several years ago”, and that she should repay “over £1,000”.
But she said she would check for herself whether she had received too much, as Sir Thomas’ inquiry had made “a lot of mistakes” in its findings.
Peter Luff (Con Mid Worcestershire) said in a statement that he had received a letter from Sir Thomas asking him to repay expenses – but the sum involved was very similar to an amount he had already agreed to repay, and he was asking for “clarification”.
Mr Luff had previously announced that he will repay £3,700 claimed for household repairs and maintenance.
And Mike Foster (Lab Worcester) has been asked for £500 because Sir Thomas believes he was overpaid by the Commons fees office when he submitted a claim for mortgage interest five years ago. He said: “I will dig out the paperwork and check it, and if there is any problem then I will repay the money.”
All the MPs said they would repay any money they had genuinely received in error.
Cabinet Member Liam Byrne, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury and MP for Birmingham Hodge Hill, is sending a cheque for £1,869.54 after the review asked him to repay allowances he received for a phone bill and for eight days rent on a flat.
But it is understood that he also is challenging the findings, and is to ask Sir Thomas to explain them further.
