North East MPs defend their expenses claims

Jun 19 2009 by Adrian Pearson, The Journal

MPs repay almost £500,000

MPS have repaid nearly £500,000 amid public fury over abuses of the Westminster expenses system, it was revealed last night.

They have returned a total of £478,615.07 to the taxpayer since April 1, according to figures released by Parliament.

Many MPs have handed over cash after admitting claiming too much, but others have done it as a gesture to try and allay constituents’ anger.

Among the North East MPs to repay money are David Miliband, who represents South Shields and repaid £434.24. Roberta Blackman Woods, the City of Durham MP, repaid £240.42, while Hilary Armstrong, North West Durham’s representative, repaid £5,500. Kevan Mr Jones, whose sits for North Durham, repaid £172.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has made four separate repayments, totalling just over £800.

His spokesman said all the sums had been made either to rectify "inadvertent errors or for the avoidance of doubt".

The biggest was a £466.85 cleaning bill which was "inadvertently assigned to two quarters".

Mr Brown also paid back £86.88 worth of service charges claimed on a London flat because they covered a 12-day period after it ceased to be his second home, £95 claimed for a utility bill for similar reasons and a £153.13 plumbing bill that was submitted twice. International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander has paid back £4,200, the figures showed.

A spokesman said: "Mr Alexander approached the Fees Office in April 2009 to discuss the written advice he had previously been given by them regarding the rental of a building adjacent to his property between 2001 and 2005.

"The Fees Office did not resile from the advice they had previously given Mr Alexander. Nonetheless, notwithstanding that advice, Mr Alexander decided, for the avoidance of doubt, to make payments to reduce his overall level of claim."

Among the biggest sums on the list were from Labour ex-ministers Paddy Tipping (£14,320) and Keith Vaz (£11,306), shadow solicitor-general Jonathan Djanogly (£25,000), Tory deputy speaker Sir Alan Haselhurst (£14,574.82) and junior culture minister Barbara Follett (£32,976.17).

The biggest sum to be handed back so far is the £42,674 promised by Health Minister Phil Hope and the smallest the £1 returned by Labour’s Madeleine Moon.

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