County MPs asked to provide information

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Tuesday, October 13, 2009
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This is Gloucestershire

Conservative members of parliament in Gloucestershire have been asked to provide more information over their expenses claims.

Laurence Robertson, for Tewkesbury, and Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, for the Cotswolds, must hand over evidence for claims after receiving a letter from auditor Sir Thomas Legg.

Gloucester's Labour MP Parmjit Dhanda must also resubmit some paperwork, but Cheltenham's Lib Dem MP Martin Horwood has been given a clean bill of health.

Conservative Mark Harper, for the Forest and Stroud's Labour MP David Drew have also been told no action on their behalf is needed.

About 600 MPs have received letters containing the interim results of a review of their second home claims since 2004 by former civil servant Sir Thomas.

Hundreds have been asked to make reimbursements or answer questions over their claims.

However, many backbenchers are annoyed at now being told by Sir Thomas to repay claims that were allowed at the time by Commons officials.

The letters sent to MPs fell into three categories – those passing a clean bill of health, those demanding repayment and those demanding further information.

Mr Robertson has been asked by Sir Thomas to provide a mortgage statement, he had previously submitted but had been lost.

He said: "There's no issue. I am pleased not to be accused of any wrong-doing at all.

"We have got to sort it out. Let's get a new system in, run properly. Get people outside to determine salaries and allowances and let's move on.

"I hope by the New Year we can get back onto bigger issues like the national debt."

Mr Dhanda said: "They have lost some of my mortgage statements so I will resubmit them.

"I also need to see an invoice about some work to a damaged floor which I will provide."

In a statement, Mr Clifton-Brown said: "Sir Thomas has asked Mr Clifton-Brown to provide further clarification on a mortgage claim made in the financial year 2008/9 and a maintenance claim made in 2004.

"The MP has today written to Sir Thomas providing this clarification and factual information and will now await the full publication of the report in December.

"[He] will respect and conform to whatever final decision is made. No further comment will be made until the publication of the final report."

Mr Horwood, who was not required to provide any further information, said: "It's another step on the road to restoring Parliament's reputation but we do seem to have tripped over a little.

"This has been yet another episode of us not getting it right."

Gordon Brown's office says the Prime Minister will pay back £12,415 that he claimed largely for cleaning and gardening - which were within the rules at the time - after his letter from Sir Thomas.

Tory leader David Cameron has been asked to provide more information about mortgage payments, while Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg, who was in Cheltenham yesterday, (Tue) is to repay £910 relating to gardening claims.

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2 Comments

  • Profile image for This is Gloucestershire

    by A, Gloucester

    Tuesday, October 13 2009, 6:33PM

    “"This has been yet another episode of us not getting it right."

    More like a full length series IMO. One can only wonder just how many years they have been milking (or should that read defrauding?) the taxpayer!!! Perhaps we should be asking that question and perhaps those MP's complaining about retrospective repayments should thank their lucky stars that their entire career's expenses have not been scrutinised. Perhaps it would be enough to make a substantial difference to the mess this country is presently in. Never mind aahhh Bisto! It's about time they joined the taxpayer in the real world.”

  • Profile image for This is Gloucestershire

    by A, Gloucester

    Tuesday, October 13 2009, 6:32PM

    “"This has been yet another episode of us not getting it right."

    More like a full length series IMO. One can only wonder just how many years they have been milking (or should that read defrauding?) the taxpayer!!! Perhaps we should be asking that question and perhaps those MP's complaining about retrospective repayments should thank their lucky stars that their entire career's expenses have not been scrutinised. Perhaps it would be enough to make a substantial difference to the mess this country is presently in. Never mind aahhh Bisto! It's about time they joined the taxpayer in the real world.”

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