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| Version 0 | Version 1 |
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| MP may lose pay-off over expenses | MP may lose pay-off over expenses |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| A Labour MP faces being stripped of an £65,000 allowance for retiring MPs after a "serious" breach of the rules over his expenses claims. | A Labour MP faces being stripped of an £65,000 allowance for retiring MPs after a "serious" breach of the rules over his expenses claims. |
| Harry Cohen, who is standing down at the election, is the first MP to be told he should lose the allowance since the expenses scandal began. | Harry Cohen, who is standing down at the election, is the first MP to be told he should lose the allowance since the expenses scandal began. |
| A report found the MP breached the rules on second home claims involving a "large sum of public money". | A report found the MP breached the rules on second home claims involving a "large sum of public money". |
| Mr Cohen has also been told that he must apologise to Parliament. | Mr Cohen has also been told that he must apologise to Parliament. |
| 'Not entitled' | |
| The Labour MP for Wanstead was censured for claiming more than £70,000 in second home allowances for a property in Colchester between 2004 and 2008 when it was let out for much of the time. | |
| A report by the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner found that the Colchester home "could not be regarded as his home for the purpose of claiming parliamentary allowances" as he was not living there. | |
| Withholding of the resettlement grant is a severe sanction which will effectively recover from Mr Cohen a similarly large sum of public money Committee on Standards and Privileges | |
| As an MP with from an outer London constituency, the report says he should instead have claimed a London Supplement which would have entitled him to £9,000 over the same period. | |
| Consequently, the report concludes that Mr Cohen received over £60,000 in public money "to which he was not entitled". | |
| The Standards and Privileges Committee, which has the power to recommend sanctions for MPs over their expenses, said the breach was particularly serious and it involved a large sum of public money". | |
| 'Sympathy' | |
| It said it had "sympathy" for the MP because his wife had been battling serious illness and they hoped to retire to the Colchester house when he left Westminster. | |
| It stressed the MP's "personal situation" should be taken into account when the case is considered by Parliament. | |
| Mr Cohen argued that the Colchester property was his main home and there were periods when it was not let. | |
| He said his circumstances were unusual but said he would abide by whatever decision the committee reached. | |
| Given the seriousness of the breach, the committee is recommending that he be stripped of the "resettlement" allowance paid to MPs who stand down between elections - which, in his case, would amount to about £65,000. | |
| "Withholding of the resettlement grant is a severe sanction which will effectively recover from Mr Cohen a similarly large sum of public money," the committee says. | |
| The recommendation will now be debated in the Commons, where Mr Cohen will be entitled to speak, with a final decision being taken by MPs. | |
| In its report on reforming MPs' expenses in November, the Committee on Standards in Public Life chaired by Sir Christopher Kelly argued that the sanction should be used in the most serious cases of misconduct. |