Local MP Norman Baker was pleased yesterday to receive a letter from Sir Thomas Legg, the civil servant tasked with reviewing the expenses claims of MPs made since 2004, informing him that he does not need to pay any of his expenses back.
However, the MP, who has campaigned on the issue of parliamentary expenses over a number of years, has also expressed his concern at the fact that Sir Legg then went on to query why he had not provided evidence of mortgage interest payments. The reason for this is simple: Norman has on principle never claimed a mortgage from the taxpayer, as he believes it wrong to make a profit out of the taxpayer. Expenses, he says, should simply be about reimbursing legitimate and necessary expenditure directly related to the job.
After talking to other Lib Dem MPs, Norman discovered that a second MP in a similar set of circumstances had also received a letter from Sir Thomas, requesting clarification of a non existent mortgage. In addition, a further MP was asked to provide clarification with regards to a bed that had never been purchased.
Speaking on the matter, Norman said: "I am pleased that after looking at my expenses claims, Sir Thomas Legg has determined that they have all been above board and that I do not need to pay anything back.
"However, I am concerned that he appears to have made some rather elementary errors when investigating the claims of MPs, and to be honest, I think that the public will now need to be assured that a thorough and proper investigation was indeed conducted.
"That aside, Sir Thomas's investigation was an essential step in sorting out the mess in which parliament has found itself over the expenses scandal. However, full closure can only come once Sir Christopher Kelly makes his recommendations on how to change the expenses system. I believe that it is imperative at that point that MPs accept his recommendations in full, and do not try to pick and choose the bits they like and discard the bits they don't."
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