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We want to be chancellor but can't do expenses
19 Jun 2009THE men who would be Chancellor - Labour's Ed Balls and Tory shadow chancellor George Osborne - today both admitted they had blundered in their Commons expenses and paid back money.
And the man who actually is running the nation's economy, Alistair Darling, also had to confess he could not calculate his own expenses accurately and led the unseemly scramble by shamed MPs to clear their files of wrongful claims and repay the taxpayer.
Mr Darling repaid £958.04 - £660 he had already promised to pay for a service charge for a flat he let out, and an extra £290 to cover a share of his TV licence and ground rent. Mr Balls and Mr Osborne both admitted they overclaimed for mortgage interest because they got their sums
wrong.
Mr Balls claimed £1,350 too much and Mr Osborne £99 too much for interest plus two other overclaims of £440.62 and £654.91.
Gordon Brown made four paybacks totalling just over £800 to rectify “inadvertent errors or for the avoidance of doubt”, said his office. They included £466.85 for cleaning costs that were
accidentally claimed twice, an error only revealed today.
A total of 183 MPs have repaid cash totalling £478,616. The sums were on a list slipped out by the Commons last night — which sparked a new secrecy row because the list failed to explain
what had happened.
Shamed MPs today scrambled to repay money they wrongly took from the taxpayer for such goods as silk cushions, over-claims on their mortgage
and gardening.
Senior figures were willing to humiliate themselves by confessing to blunders or simply handed back cash for excessive spending.
Foreign Secretary David Miliband repaid £434.24 he wrongly claimed in interest, and Work and Pensions Secretary Yvette Cooper repaid £1,350 for the same reason — plus £17.50 for a bottle of whisky.
Minister Rosie Winterton, who attends Cabinet, repaid £8,247.59 that she claimed in breach of the rules, apparently not realising that she could only claim mortgage interest. She claimed capital repayments as well.
Senior Labour MP Keith Vaz repaid £18,000, including about £15,000 spent on leather armchairs and 22 silk scatter cushions.
Health Secretary Andy Burnham paid £2,742 to cover two cases where he was overpaid because of administrative errors by Commons officials.
International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander sent cheques for £4,200 and £8,400 following revelations that he was receiving rental income at a second home funded by the taxpayer.
Between May 2001 and September 2005, he sublet part of his Scottish constituency home to a tenant who lived there before he bought it — while claiming £73,000 in second-home allowances for the cost of the entire home. The minister said he reduced his claims in line with the rental income. But records show he claimed
close to the annual maximum.
The biggest payback was a staggering £42,674 from Health Minister Phil Hope. He was criticised for buying large amounts of furniture for a small London flat.
Labour MP Barbara Follett repaid £32,000, covering security patrols outside her London home.
And Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg has repaid £79.50.
Several Tories repaid money after criticism. Michael Gove paid £571.75 and £7,114; Chris Grayling £4,143.75 and Oliver Letwin £2,150. Tory Sir Alan Haselhurst, a candidate for
Speaker, repaid £15,754 of “gardening expenses”.
Reader views (8)
If so many of them can "blunder" ( a rather charitable word) with their expenses, no wonder they screwed up the economy.
Astonishing too, just how much they could apparently claim legally! Needs a major paring down of allowable expenses, to be on a par with private sector practice.
- Naomi Sajeri, Manchester, 20/06/2009 22:39
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It is now blatantly obvious that parliament and our supposed leaders are not the finest minds but a fairly dim lot only just clever enough to stuff up an expenses form. It is now time for members of Parliament to be selected by the national lottery. It will be better for the country with moral, spiritual and intellectual standards much improved.
- Mr Pastry, Brisbane, 20/06/2009 22:34
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Mistakes? I have never seen any of this as mistakes. These guys knew only too well what they were doing all along. Time has caught up with them and they have been found out for what they really are. The entire system is corrupt. The House of Commons, The House of Lords, the banking system, local councils, it's everywhere you look. This country is run by greed and pure selfishness by a small minority who may as well mug us on the streets in broad daylight - 'cause that is what they do and have been doing for years. I will never vote for anyone again, reguardless of party. Britain has become a laughing stock around the world, and rightly so. I hope the police get involved and put some of these cheats behind bars. Brown seems quite real to me...it must be tempting for him to walk away from this and these people, I know I would. The last few months have taught us so much, and I still think there is more to come. It is nailed that the Labour Party are finished for the next few years at the very least. Even without the recent events they were always going to pay for a false war in Iraq. WMD? No way - I live in an army town and we get the real breaking news here.
- Ray Hollingsworth, Colchester, England, 20/06/2009 21:13
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If they cant follow some simple rules and get it right, and here I mean the whole of the MP's in the Commons what chance have we got of them monitoring all the unreadble 180,000 EU laws that have been passed by EUrope in the country. This whole matter needs revisiting. Wherever there is a scandal they know nothing and saw nothing. Few even admitted to konowing about the redacting? Can anyone imagine the duplication and chaos our laws are in.
- Jas, Camberley UK, 20/06/2009 16:47
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If these guys can´t handle their own expenses, what sort of a mess would they make of the Exchequer?
- Graham Rodhouse, Helmond, Netherlands, 20/06/2009 13:07
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Please, please just make them go they have no right to be in any position of trust, we have all had enough of them. We are all sick and tired of these liars and cheats and until they go no one in Britain with any sense will have any faith in British establishments or its so called lets pretend to be a democracy.
- Angel, London, 19/06/2009 22:27
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Nearly one third of our MPs, including senior members of the Government and Opposition are - and I'm being charitable here - incapable of submitting accurate expense claims.
Do they seriously expect us to entrust them with this country's finances, not to mention our education system?
No self-respecting banana republic would tolerate this lot!
There should be no "safe" seats at the next elction.
- John C, Leatherhead, UK, 19/06/2009 20:34
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It's all very well saying that you've "ballsed up" your expenses calculations (excuse the pun) BUT what the public are asking for is SPECIFICS as it's THEIR MONEY at the end of the day that you received for what you claimed ultimately! It's not rocket science especially when you consider that Joe and Jane public both have to give specifics when returning their tax returns!!!
- Ali Sichilongo, London, 19/06/2009 18:07
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