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18/02/2009
Home Secretary To Be Investigated Over Allowances
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith is to face a parliamentary "sleaze" investigation over her Commons expenses, it has emerged.
A spokesman for the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, John Lyon, confirmed he had accepted a complaint against Ms Smith.
Mr Lyons has written to the Home Secretary asking her to shed light on her £116,000 "second home" expenses, and why her London neighbours claim she spends as little as two nights a week at that address.
Ms Smith insists she has done nothing wrong and followed rules.
She says she has "fully abided" by the rules by designating her sister's house as her "main" residence.
Mr Lyons had previously turned down two requests for an investigation into her decision to designate her sister's house in Nunhead, south-east London - where she stays when she is in the capital - as her main home.
A spokesman for Mr Lyon said: "He has accepted a complaint against Jacqui Smith and is following the procedure laid down for him."
The Home Office have confirmed the complaint comes from Ms Smith's neighbours in London, Dominic and Jessica Taplin.
Mrs Taplin was quoted in the Mail on Sunday as saying the Home Secretary’s claim that she spent most of the week there as a "fabrication" and that she was sometimes there for just two days a week.
She said: "When I read that she says she spends most of the week here, I thought, 'That is a fabrication'."
After speaking to the paper, the neighbours wrote to the Commons Fees Office, which looks after MPs' expenses.
(JM/BMcC)
A spokesman for the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, John Lyon, confirmed he had accepted a complaint against Ms Smith.
Mr Lyons has written to the Home Secretary asking her to shed light on her £116,000 "second home" expenses, and why her London neighbours claim she spends as little as two nights a week at that address.
Ms Smith insists she has done nothing wrong and followed rules.
She says she has "fully abided" by the rules by designating her sister's house as her "main" residence.
Mr Lyons had previously turned down two requests for an investigation into her decision to designate her sister's house in Nunhead, south-east London - where she stays when she is in the capital - as her main home.
A spokesman for Mr Lyon said: "He has accepted a complaint against Jacqui Smith and is following the procedure laid down for him."
The Home Office have confirmed the complaint comes from Ms Smith's neighbours in London, Dominic and Jessica Taplin.
Mrs Taplin was quoted in the Mail on Sunday as saying the Home Secretary’s claim that she spent most of the week there as a "fabrication" and that she was sometimes there for just two days a week.
She said: "When I read that she says she spends most of the week here, I thought, 'That is a fabrication'."
After speaking to the paper, the neighbours wrote to the Commons Fees Office, which looks after MPs' expenses.
(JM/BMcC)
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Northern Ireland WeatherToday:Gale, coastal severe gale, northwest winds ease from late afternoon. Scattered showers will fall as snow over the hills at first, becoming isolated from mid-afternoon. Maximum temperature 7 °C.Tonight:Showers, scattered in the evening, will clear by midnight leaving the night dry with clear spells. Cloud will spread east towards morning. Minimum temperature 2 °C.
