More Furore Over MPs' Expenses

An investigation into parliamentary second home expenses has found UK MPs owe repayments of over £1.12m.

Auditor Sir Thomas Legg recommended that 390 MPs - more than half of Commons members - should repay £1.3m of claims dating back to 2004.

Some MPs have criticised Sir Thomas' handling of the review, branding it "sloppy".

Appeals over the investigation led to £180,000 being wiped off the final figure.

Around £800,000 of the total has been repaid by MPs since the probe, which cost £1.16m, was launched.

Junior minister Barbara Follett was reportedly asked to repay the highest amount of all MPs.

Following the appeals process, it is believed Ms Follett was recommended to pay back £42,458.

Between April 2004 to November 2008 she was paid a total of £34,776.30 for mobile security patrols at her second home.

Ms Follett also claimed £8,908.36 for six telephone lines at the same address during this period.

It is believed she has already repaid most of the money claimed.

Sums over £40,000 were ordered from three MPs, while 56 MPs were asked to repay between £5,000 and £40,000.

A further 182 were asked to repay between £1,000 and £5,000 and 149 MPs were asked to repay between £100 and £1,000.

All parliamentarians were given the opportunity to appeal Sir Thomas' rulings.

Of the 70 MPs who pursued an appeal on findings, around 44 are believed to have been successful.

Tory MP Bernard Jenkin had been asked to repay £63,250 in second homes allowance, however, on appeal this figure dropped by £27,000.

Sir Thomas branded the second home expenses system "deeply flawed".

"In particular, the rules were vague, and MPs were themselves self-certifying as to the propriety of their use of the allowance," he said.

"Taken with the prevailing lack of transparency and the 'culture of deference', this meant that the [Commons] fees office's decisions lacked legitimacy; and many of them were in fact mistaken."

The auditor conceded public confidence has been "damaged", and the "scars will no doubt take time to heal".

He continued: "But there is a positive side. In responding, our national institutions, including a free press, an independent judiciary and in the end the executive government, political parties and above all the House of Commons itself, are showing that, when things do go wrong, we have together the will and the means to put matters right, heal and reform the systems and the culture, and move forward."

It is believed MPs who still owe money and have since resigned will have the sum docked from their severance pay.

(PR/GK)