West Ham's Brown gives up flat she rented 'for safety's sake' - News - Evening Standard
       

West Ham's Brown gives up flat she rented 'for safety's sake'

West Ham MP Lyn Brown is to give up her second home despite claiming she needed it because of safety concerns after being attacked in her youth.

Ms Brown, who claimed parliamentary expenses to rent a flat in central London, said she was subjected "to a vicious attack" years ago.

She spent 18 months travelling less than 10 miles between her home in Newham and Westminster, but rented the flat because of safety fears, she said. Amid the furore over MPs' expenses, she has decided to give up the flat, the cost of which she shared with another MP.

Ms Brown, 49, said she was subjected "to a vicious attack" in her youth which left her scarred physically and "feeling vulnerable". She said: "I have to organise my life around this." She said the flat let her "manage late nights and early morning working in the Commons".

Ms Brown and fellow Newham MP Jim Fitzpatrick are to publish details of their claims on their personal websites before July.

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