CONSERVATIVE LEADER David Cameron has confirmed that 40 of his MPs are to repay a further £125,000 (€146,000) to the taxpayer after an internal party review of their Westminster expenses claims.
This brings to £260,000 the total being returned to the House of Commons authorities and to the Revenue and Customs by Conservative MPs alone in the continuing aftermath of the expenses scandal.
The scandal has seen Labour and Conservative MPs deselected while others wait to learn if they are to be the subject of police investigations.
By the end of last week, MPs from parties on all sides of the Commons had repaid about £500,000 in respect of claims previously properly made within the now-discredited and discarded “rules”. Announcing that some of his MPs had also agreed to forgo future second-home allowances totalling £100,000, Mr Cameron claimed his party was “taking a lead” on the expenses issue by deciding whether some claims were “disproportionate”, whether or not they fell within the rules.
“Conservative MPs have responded in a positive way and shown a real desire to take the lead on this damaging issue,” he said. “It is an effort – both collectively as a party and individually as Conservative MPs – to address the public’s anger about what has happened.”
Prime minister Gordon Brown, meanwhile, has announced that prospective Labour MPs will be required to sign a pledge promising to uphold “high standards of integrity” in public life.
The latest move – in addition to the government’s proposed statutory code of conduct for MPs – is part of Mr Brown’s plan for “cleaning up politics” while taking the country through the recession and leading Labour towards what he still maintains can be a general election victory next year.
Outlining his general election strategy yesterday, Mr Brown told a meeting of prospective candidates and young party activists: “Within the next few months we will be cleaning up politics, we will be moving through the recession fairly, we will be rebuilding and showing how we will rebuild for the future of our economy and our public services and we will be a disciplined, united and campaigning party.”
Mr Brown said it was important for people to see that their MPs and those seeking to represent them were acting in the public interest and not in their self-interest:
“We have got to make sure that people see that their politicians are in it not for what they can get but for what they can give.”
Conservative shadow justice minister Eleanor Lang is repaying £25,000 in respect of capital gains tax on the sale of a property, while leading Eurosceptic MP Bill Cash has also agreed to repay £15,000 after controversy about his claims to pay rent on his daughter’s flat while his son lived in the MP’s own London apartment.
Sir Peter Viggers, who notoriously tried to claim for a floating duck house, is also repaying £10,000 in claims for garden maintenance and repairs. Some Labour MPs renewed criticism of Mr Cameron for alleged inconsistencies in his approach to individual MPs’ cases.