Chancellor To Repay Service Charge Expenses

Chancellor Alistair Darling has announced he will repay part of a parliamentary expenses claim on his London flat.

Mr Darling said he will repay some of the £1,004 in charges to the taxpayer, after the Daily Telegraph revealed he claimed expenses for a flat that he let to tenants while also claiming allowances on his grace-for-favour home in Downing Street.

However, he insists he had done nothing wrong, but agreed to repay four months of charges he claimed in July 2007, 10 days after becoming Chancellor.

The Daily Telegraph revealed Mr Darling had submitted a £1,004 claim for a service charge on his south London flat, which covered the six-month period to the end of December 2007.

In a statement the Chancellor said: "The allegation I claimed for two houses at the same time is untrue.

"I became Chancellor in June 2007. In September I moved from my London flat to live in Downing Street.

"I made no further claims on that flat. In October 2007 the flat was let and the tenant moved in.

"The service charge was paid in advance in six monthly intervals. When I reclaimed the cost of the service charge in July I was living in the flat.

"However, because the service charge covered the period beyond September until December I will repay the service charge from September to December."

Mr Darling will repay around £700 of the charges.

Conservative Leader David Cameron has repeated calls for an early general election so that voters can get rid of politicians who have been involved the scandal.

Mr Cameron added: "They want to sit in judgment on MPs, they want to elect a new parliament that will set the new rules, that will elect a new Speaker, that will make a new start."

Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg has backed calls for Mr Darling to be sacked, saying it is "simply impossible for (Mr Darling) to continue... when such very major question marks are being raised about his financial affairs".

(JM/BMcC)