DAVID CAMERON stole another march in the expenses scandal yesterday by announcing that Conservative MPs are repaying £250,000 of “disproportionate” claims.
The Tory leader said the move was in stark contrast to Labour and the Liberal Democrats, who continued to justify claims made “within the rules”.
Last week, it was revealed that Conservative MPs had already repaid £133,517 to the Commons Fees Office since the crisis broke An investigation by a scrutiny panel set up by Mr Cameron, which examined every second home claim made by Tory MPs over four years up to 2007-8, uncovered a further £124,315.67 to be refunded by 41 MPs, making a total of £257,832.
Sir Peter Viggers, whose claim for a floating duck house was rejected, is to repay £10,000 in claims for garden maintenance and repairs.
A further nine Tories, including former leader Iain Duncan Smith, will forgo – or reduce – their second home claims, saving the taxpayer £108,600 over the next year.
The claims of eight, unnamed Conservative MPs are not yet “resolved”, suggesting they may be disputing the panel’s ruling that money must be paid back.
Mr Cameron has threatened that any of his MPs who defy the panel will be forced to quit Parliament. Yesterday, he stressed that the decision of more than 90 MPs to repay money, or forgo allowances in the future, did not “indicate guilt or a breach of the rules”.
And he added: “Unlike Labour and the Lib Dems, we have not just contented ourselves by accepting the tired old justification that something is ‘within the rules’.
“Instead, we have gone beyond the letter of the rules, examined claims in detail and sought to agree, together, claims which, while we believe them to have been properly made, could be regarded as disproportionate.”
Meanwhile, in a speech at Imperial College, London, Mr Cameron promised to hand people more power over the information gathered in their name and further checks on the “surveillance state”.
He also pledged that a Conservative government would regularly publish information in 20 categories within a year of taking office, and give citizens a “right to data” to force councils and quangos to hand over information.
■ Would-be Labour MPs must sign an “honesty pledge” as part of efforts to clean up politics in the wake of the expenses scandal, Gordon Brown said.
The pledge, which the Prime Minister hopes to extend to sitting MPs, commits candidates to uphold “high standards of integrity” and to “prudence with public money”.
THE LARGEST REPAYMENTS
Eleanor Laing Capital gains tax £25,000
Bill Cash Rent/Mortgage £15,000
John Butterfill Mortgage interest/council tax £14,478
John Gummer Gardening/household £11,538
Peter Viggers Gardening/repairs £10,000
James Arbuthnot Garden/household/swimming pool £9,338
Stephen Crabb Stamp duty £9,300
Michael Spicer Repairs/gardening £4,700
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here