MP repaid £7,000 mortgage expenses

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Preston MP Mark Hendrick told the Lancashire Evening Post that he had overclaimed the money by receiving parliamentary expenses on a mortgage relating to both properties.

Mr Hendrick had been paying two separate mortgages on his second home in Swiss Cottage, north London, and his main home in Preston, but in 2007 remortgaged and took out a single loan of around £320,000.

The new loan was secured against his constituency house but covered both properties, the paper reported. A month later, he "flipped" his second home designation to the house in Fulwood, Preston.

Over 11 months, Mr Hendrick claimed a total of £15,324.52 in mortgage interest payments on expenses, but in July last year he contacted the Fees Office to seek clarification on the arrangement.

Officials ruled he had been overpaid and Mr Hendrick returned £6,850.52.

The MP said he again overclaimed for mortgage interest payments during the last financial year and is planning to repay a further £949.17 of taxpayers' money when he returns to Westminster next week.

Mr Hendrick told the Evening Post: "The arrangement that I have got was explained in detail to the Fees Office. There has been an exchange of correspondence throughout. At the end of each financial year I have always settled up with the Fees Office to ensure that the exact, correct amount of mortgage is paid."

He added: "I sought clarification on this. I raised it with the Fees Office.

"No one pulled me up on this. I took it to them. This was nearly a year before the Daily Telegraph broke the story."