Parliamentary expenses: Payback time

THE parliamentary expenses scandal intensified last night as Scotland Yard announced that a small number of MPs and peers faced criminal investigations.

Several MPs and at least one peer will have their publicly funded allowances scrutinised by the same unit of detectives who launched the politically explosive cash-for-honours inquiry.

The news came as nearly 200 MPs scrambled to repay the taxpayer, after five years of heavily censored expense claims were unveiled by the Commons authorities on Thursday.

Officers are expected to focus on politicians accused of deliberately misleading the authorities or claiming "phantom" mortgages. It is understood that preliminary investigations started several weeks ago.

Police have refused to name which MPs they are investigating. But it is believed inquiries will include Labour MPs David Chaytor and Elliot Morley, who both announced they would stand down at the election. Mr Chaytor claimed £13,000 on a "phantom" mortgage and has so far returned £4,812.46.

He admitted an "unforgivable error" in submitting monthly bills of £1,175 for a loan that had been paid off.

Former agriculture minister Mr Morley claimed £16,000 for a non- existent loan. He referred himself to the parliamentary watchdog. Inquiries by the Commons standards commissioner into him and Mr Chaytor have been suspended while police carry out their inquiries.

Labour peer Baroness Udin, who claimed more than £100,000 for an empty home, is also believed to be under scrutiny.

Others who claimed for mortgages that had been paid off include Labour MP Ben Chapman and the Conservative whip Bill Wiggin.

Livingston MP Jim Devine, the first Scot to be banned from standing for Labour, could also have his receipts for shelving and rewiring scrutinised.

Police have ruled out a wider inquiry into most parliamentarians, despite the public outrage over the expenses scandal.

The Metropolitan Police's Economic and Specialist Crime Command will launch the inquiry, which will be led by Temporary Assistant Commissioner Janet Williams.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: "After consideration by the joint Metropolitan Police and Crown Prosecution Service assessment panel, the Met has decided to launch an investigation into the alleged misuse of expenses by a small number of MPs and peers."

Gordon Brown and David Cameron yesterday both pledged more transparency in future, allowing all expenses to be published in full with no censorship of key information.

There was a furore on Thursday when much of the information covering all 646 MPs' expenses was heavily censored.

While officials and politicians insisted this was to protect their privacy, questions were raised over why information, such as the fact that Mr Brown had claimed to repaint a summer house in his Fife garden, had been blacked out.

Speaking from Brussels where he was attending an EU summit, the Prime Minister renewed a commitment to "maximum exposure" of MPs' expense claims, insisting the highly criticised censoring of details was "part of the old system".

"The old system is being swept aside by the changes that we are making and a new, far more transparent system is being introduced.

"While ensuring that security issues are addressed, as they have to be, our first principle must be maximum transparency. That will be part of the new legislation to set up an independent parliamentary regulator to take all these issues out of the hands of MPs," he said.

Any change in the rules would have to be approved by the House of Commons Commission – which is not due to meet again until the end of the month, by which time a new Commons Speaker will have been elected to chair it.

The new regime of openness will not be enforced in time for the next tranche of MP's expenses, to be published in October, covering the financial year that ended in April.

It was the leak of an unedited version of the receipts that allowed second-home flipping and claims including moat-clearing and the building of a duck island to be exposed by the Daily Telegraph.

The receipts released on Thursday by Commons officials had all traces of addresses redacted, making it impossible for constituents or journalists to check which home an MP was claiming for.

Mr Cameron said the censorship had only hurt parliament's reputation further. The Conservatives would do everything to "push the House of Commons Commission to publish the 2008-9 expenses as quickly as possible and in an uncensored form", he said.

His regime of forcing shadow cabinet members to publish all new claims online would now also include "all significant unredacted correspondence and receipts in relation to those claims", he said.

"The heavily censored publication yesterday of MPs expenses did nothing to improve the reputation of Parliament," he said, adding, "Only strictly private information – for example phone numbers, bank details and information with legitimate security concerns – should be redacted."

Meanwhile, nearly a third of Westminster MPs have so far scrambled to voluntarily pay back expenses – amounting to nearly £500,000.

Among them was International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander, who yesterday gave back £12,600. The money was for rent he had received from a sitting tenant in a property next to his constituency home.

Mr Alexander had bought the house, complete with the annexe, and had kept the lodger. Although he cleared the rental agreement with the Commons Fees Office, a spokesman said he decided to pay back the amount he had received in rent "for the avoidance of doubt".

Recently promoted regional minister Rose Winterton, who now attends Cabinet, also paid back £8,000.

Ms Winterton reimbursed the taxpayer after it emerged she had claimed for both the capital and interest on her second home.

Also paying back a large amount was former Home Office minister Keith Vaz. He repaid £18,949.82, much of it for 22 silk scatter cushions and leather armchairs.

Chancellor Alistair Darling is paying back £958.04. The sum includes £660 he has already pledged to pay back for a service charge for his London flat, which has been let out, and an extra £290 for a share of the TV licence and ground rent.

It emerged on Thursday that Mr Darling also had a number of late notices for unpaid bills.

However The Scotsman understands that this was because the bills were incorrectly sent to the Scottish Parliament.

Sources close to Mr Darling said that he always paid his bills.

THE TEN BIGGEST REPAYERS

Phil Hope (Lab) – £42,674
Elliot Morley (Lab) – £36,800
Barbara Follett (Lab) – £32,976
Jonathan Djanogly (Con) – £25,000
Keith Vaz (Lab) – £18,949
Sir Alan Haselhurst (Con) – £15,653
Barry Gardiner (Lab) – £15,229
Paddy Tipping (Lab) – £14,320
Paul Goggins (Lab) – £11,680
Howard Stoate (Lab) – £11,255

THE CABINET

Gordon Brown: £801.86
Alistair Darling: £958.04
Douglas Alexander: £12,600
David Miliband: £434.24
Ed Balls: £1,350
Yvette Cooper: £1,367.50
Liam Byrne: £1,757.88
Hilary Benn: £115

THE SCOTS

Douglas Alexander: £12,600
Gordon Brown: £801.86
Jim Sheridan: £779
Charles Kennedy: £93.65
Sir Menzies Campbell: £1,772
David Mundell: £74.88
Mike Weir: £37.08
Mark Lazarowicz: £2,730
Alistair Darling: £958.04