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MP to fight expenses cash demand MPs to fight expenses repayment
(about 2 hours later)
A Liberal Democrat has become the first MP to state publicly that he will appeal against an official request to repay past expenses claims. Three MPs have announced they will challenge an auditor's request that they repay money they claimed on expenses dating back five years.
Jeremy Browne has been told by Sir Thomas Legg, who conducted an audit of expenses, to repay nearly £18,000. Lib Dem Jeremy Browne, Tory Bernard Jenkin and Labour's Frank Cook are the first MPs to announce they will challenge Sir Thomas Legg's findings.
Tory MP Bernard Jenkin later confirmed he would fight a demand for the £63,250 claimed to rent a home from a relative. Sir Thomas was asked to review all MPs' second home claims since 2004 after the expenses scandal broke in May.
Meanwhile, Labour MP Frank Cook said he would appeal against a repayment bill for a £600 fridge claimed on expenses. MPs who disagree with his findings have the right to submit written appeals.
Taunton MP Mr Browne has written to Sir Paul Kennedy, who is overseeing appeals, to tell him he intends to contest the decision. They must signal their intention to appeal by Thursday and submit their written appeals by 23 December - which will then be examined by former Court of Appeal judge Sir Paul Kennedy.
He says he is being asked to repay money because he remortgaged a property he owned in London before becoming an MP, in order to pay a deposit to buy a house in his constituency. Fridge claims
'Retrospective' Sir Thomas's review has annoyed many MPs who have been asked to repay money for a variety of reasons.
Remortgaging was against the rules as set out then, but Mr Browne says in his letter to Sir Paul: "I did not believe that the rule was designed to stop 'first-time' MPs from funding the practical requirement to have two homes." Mr Jenkin, MP for Essex North, has been asked to repay the highest amount known - £63,250 - because he claimed it for rent on a property owned by his sister-in-law.
The rules changed in 2006 to prevent MPs renting from relatives but Mr Jenkin has said he was not informed and says the Commons Fees Office had sanctioned the arrangement.
He has said he will repay the money if the appeals process goes against him.
Bernard Jenkin and Frank Cook say they will fight demands for repaymentBernard Jenkin and Frank Cook say they will fight demands for repayment
He says he took his course of action to minimise costs to the taxpayer. Stockton North MP Mr Cook's request for repayment relates to £600 claims for a fridge.
The BBC understands Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg, who told his MPs not to "quibble" with Sir Thomas's requests for repayment, is supportive of Mr Browne - a Lib Dem Treasury spokesman. He says other requests from Sir Thomas that he repay £964 for utility bills have been dropped and he has already repaid £1,019 he over-claimed for council tax.
North Essex MP Mr Jenkin has been asked to repay the largest amount known so far - £63,250. Mr Browne's case is more complicated. He told the BBC that he was being asked to repay £17,894 because of a "ridiculous application of the rules".
He was asked to do so because he rented his second home from his sister-in-law - MPs were banned from renting from family members in 2006. The Lib Dem Treasury spokesman became MP for Taunton in 2005 and raised the deposit to buy a home in the constituency by remortgaging a London flat he had owned for several years.
Appeal process It meant the mortgage on his London flat increased from £130,000 to £190,000 - he designated the flat as his "second home" and went on to claim expenses on the interest of the £190,000 mortgage.
Mr Jenkin has said he was not informed the rules had changed and the Commons Fees Office had sanctioned the arrangement. Remortgage
He has said he will appeal to Sir Paul - a former Court of Appeal judge asked by the Commons members estimate committee to consider written appeals from MPs. Sir Thomas said that breached a rule that MPs are not allowed to claim expenses for "interest on any additional mortgages, advances or loans secured on the same property".
But Mr Jenkin has said he will repay the money if the appeals process rules against him. He said he should have claimed interest on the £130,000 mortgage and has asked Mr Browne to repay the difference.
Mr Cook, MP for Stockton North, said earlier demands to repay £964 for utility bills were dropped and he has already repaid £1,019 of over claims for council tax. Mr Browne says the rule about remortgaging was meant to stop MPs withdrawing the equity on taxpayer-funded properties to "buy a new car, go on holiday or whatever it might be".
Downing Street asked Sir Thomas to review all MPs' claims made under the controversial second homes allowance since 2004, after the expenses scandal broke in May. But he said the increase in his London flat's value happened before he became an MP and before he made any expenses claims on the mortgage.
He has looked at whether claims should not have been allowed under the rules at the time, whether mistakes were made and has also angered some MPs by introducing his own limits on claims for cleaning and gardening. "I don't think that's a reasonable application of the rules and I think the money that accrued to me prior to my election is mine to spend as I see fit," he told the BBC.
A number of MPs, including the prime minister and several cabinet ministers, have been asked to repay the difference between what they claimed, and what he thinks they should have claimed. He argued that under Sir Thomas's interpretation of the rules, he could have sold the flat and bought a new one and claimed 100% of the mortgage interest, or claimed for his Taunton home - even though either option would have cost the taxpayer more.
"I think I acted in good faith," he told the BBC.
"If the appeal decides to uphold Sir Thomas Legg's verdict then I will find a way of raising the money to pay that amount back into the system... the reason there is an appeals process is there is a recognition there are lots of shades of grey, not all of these decisions are straightforward."
Prime Minister Gordon Brown asked Sir Thomas to look for mistakes made in expenses claims approved by the Commons Fees Office over five years, when the expenses scandal broke in May.
But he has applied his own limits on what he thinks should have been claimed for gardening and cleaning. Several MPs have been asked to repay the difference - sometimes amounting to thousands of pounds.
Many MPs were unhappy about the "retrospective" nature of the ruling and had been expected to appeal.Many MPs were unhappy about the "retrospective" nature of the ruling and had been expected to appeal.
Thursday is the deadline for them tell the Commons authorities whether they intend to take such action.