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Ex-minister faces expenses rebuke Ex-minister told to repay £13,837
(about 9 hours later)
Former minister Tony McNulty is to be rebuked for his expenses claims following an inquiry and asked to repay about £13,000, the BBC understands. Former minister Tony McNulty has apologised unreservedly to MPs after being ordered to repay £13,837 of expenses claimed on his second home.
Mr McNulty has been investigated by the parliamentary standards watchdog for claiming the second home allowance for a property in which his parents lived. He was investigated by Parliament's standards watchdog for claiming for a property in which his parents lived.
The Harrow property was eight miles away from his main central London home. He acted on advice from the Fees Office which was "mistaken", the report says.
MPs face wide-ranging cuts to their second homes and other expenses, under proposals from an independent inquiry. Mr McNulty apologised and said he would repay the money. He had followed the rules but should have "had much more care" about how they were perceived.
Mr McNulty, who has maintained he did not break the rules, is likely to be asked to apologise to Parliament. 'Sole residence'
Criticism Mr McNulty lives with his wife in Hammersmith, west London but claimed for a second home nine miles away in his Harrow constituency and 11 miles from Parliament.
If he does, he will become the second senior Labour figure to publicly apologise for their actions regarding the second home allowance after former home secretary Jacqui Smith did so earlier this month. The Harrow property had been the "sole residence of Mr McNulty's parents", who paid bills but not rent, since 1998, the report said - the mortgage was in his name.
He has defended the arrangement, saying he continued to use the property on weekends and he did not breach any rules class="" href="/2/hi/uk_news/politics/8330020.stm">MPs 'facing major expenses cuts' But he claimed expenses on it as his second home between early 2002 and December 2008, spending between 52 and 66 nights a year there.
A report by Parliament's standards watchdog into Mr McNulty's conduct will be published on Thursday. This had the the effect of subsidising the living costs of Mr McNulty's parents from public funds Standards report
It is up to the Standards and Privileges Committee of MPs to decide what sanctions, if any, the former Home Office minister should face. The report published by the standards and privileges committee said that he breached Commons rules by making a claim for expenses that were "not wholly and exclusively incurred in connection with his parliamentary duties".
However, it is understood he will be asked to repay some money. It said: "This had the the effect of subsidising the living costs of Mr McNulty's parents from public funds."
Mr McNulty left the government in June after months of criticism about his expenses claims, first highlighted by a Sunday newspaper. Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards John Lyon, said it was "reasonable" for Mr McNulty to conclude he needed a home in his constituency and that was within the rules.
His case was referred to the standards commissioner John Lyon by the Tory MP Greg Hands, one of a handful of MPs' cases he is investigating. But he said he should not have claimed for the full council tax, because had he been in the house he would have qualified for the single person's discount - and just over £3,000 had been over claimed, although these were "innocent mistakes".
Since 2002, Mr McNulty claimed £60,000 for the house in his Harrow constituency, in north-west London, where his parents live. 'Informal arrangement'
Mr McNulty lived in the house - which he owns - before his 2002 marriage to second wife Christine. He then moved to her home in west London. However he said Mr McNulty should have "formally abated his claims to reflect his parents' living costs" but between 2004-2008 had claimed "for well over two thirds of the costs of running his home" - mostly relating to mortgage interest.
AREAS WITHIN 60 MINUTES' TRAVEL TIME OF WESTMINSTER Since 2004, he claimed £49,931 in running costs for the property - 69% of the total running costs. But the committee ruled that he should have claimed no more than half and recommended that he repay the difference of £13,837.44.
Current rules on claiming a second home allowance exclude all constituencies within 20 miles (32km) of Westminster. This is a new rule - three months ago only Inner London MPs could not claim it. The report says Mr McNulty's claims ranged from between £8,251 to £12, 600 a year - well below the maximum possible - between 2004 and 2008.
New rules due to be published on 4 November are expected to extend the limit to MPs living within 60 minutes' train journey of Westminster. Exactly how journey times will be judged is still not clear. This map is based on leaving home at 0800 to arrive at Parliament by public transport by 0900 on one day in October 2008. class="" href="/2/hi/uk_news/politics/8044207.stm">See MPs' expenses in full - 2007/2008 Mr McNulty said he had informally abated his claims but the commissioner said it did not mean "a fair apportionment between his parents' living costs and his own."
He has defended the arrangement, saying he continued to use the property on weekends and he did not breach any rules. I apologise for any part I have played in the diminution of the standing of this House in the eyes of the public, it is however time to move on. Tony McNulty
MPs are facing a radical overhaul of their expenses regime, according to leaked details of recommendations by the Kelly committee asked to draw up reforms to the current system. "This was an informal and undocumented arrangement. It was not in my view an acceptable basis on which to claim public money," Mr Lyon said.
Among its reported proposals are that MPs should no longer be able to employ relatives and those living within a 60-minute train journey of London will no longer be able to claim money for a second home. The report says he concluded the arrangement "provided an immediate benefit or subsidy from public funds to him and through him to his parents" which was "against the spirit of the previous rules".
It has now emerged that several other allowances will be reduced - including the resettlement grant to MPs who stand down or lose their seats at a general election. But in his response, Mr McNulty said while he regretted "that I did not recognise that a more formal agreement would have been wise" he believed the commissioner's conclusion was "neither fair nor reasonable".
Criticised by some as a "golden goodbye", it is intended to help outgoing MPs adjust to the costs of non-Parliamentary life and can range from between £32,383 and £64,766, depending on age and time served. The first £30,000 is tax free. "This conclusion rests on a significant reinterpretation of the rules that the Department of Resources confirmed in July 2009 - just three months ago," Mr McNulty said, adding he had abated all claims "as much as I considered appropriate, in line with the advice rendered".
The BBC understands Sir Christopher Kelly's report will recommend this be replaced with a small fixed sum, possibly a couple of months' salary. But in his statement to the Commons he said the commissioner had "every right to redefine such advice and apply it retrospectively".
The £10,400 a year communications allowance - which was the only allowance voted through by MPs without a recommendation from the senior salaries review board - is expected to be axed entirely. He said he accepted the conclusions "in full, including the requirement to repay, with no complaint and apologise without reservation to the House".
The report will also recommend an end to the £25-a-day "subsistence allowance" - which allows MPs to claim for food and other items without a receipt - as well as cutbacks to claims for first class rail travel and travel within London. "I should have been much clearer about my arrangements and taken steps to ensure I was not open to any charge of benefit and should have had much more concern for how these rules were perceived by the public, rather than just following them."
He added: "I apologise for any part I have played in the diminution of the standing of this House in the eyes of the public, it is however time to move on."
Mr Lyon was asked to investigate Mr McNulty's second home arrangements by the Conservative MP Greg Hands, following media reports at the start of the year.