David Laddox - 5th February 2010
Scottish MPs have been told to pay back a total of £103,000 in claimed expenses. Sir Thomas Legg demanded 38 Scottish MPs – including Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Scottish Secretary Jim Murphy – return money they incorrectly claimed.
Two Scottish MPs – Ian Davidson and Frank Roy, both Labour – appealed against the original demands and had the amount they had to return reduced.
However, there was confusion over the amount owed by former Strathkelvin and Bearsden Labour MP John Lyons. Sir Thomas demanded almost £19,000 back in mortgage payments, explaining he had no choice because he had been unable to contact Mr Lyons.
However, Mr Lyons told The Scotsman the first he heard about the repayment was when his sister called him yesterday after he had attended a funeral.
"She told me it was on the radio," he said. "I don't understand why Sir Thomas was unable to contact me, because parliament has my address to send me my pension statements and the House magazine every month.
"This is typical of the shambolic way this matter seems to have been handled. All I claimed for was my mortgage interest on the flat I purchased in London, which was well within the rules."
It is understood he has been given an extension to appeal his case to the end of February and has contacted Sir Thomas to arrange an urgent meeting.
There was also confusion over a claim made by the SNP's Alex Salmond that he was the only party leader not to be asked to pay anything back. It also featured in an SNP press release. However, neither Sinn Fein's Gerry Adams nor the DUP's Peter Robinson were asked for any money back.
Who owes what
| MP
&
Party |
Constituency |
Claim
Details |
Repayment recommended |
Danny
Alexander Lib Dem. |
Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch & Strathspey, |
Mr Alexander was overpaid £40.83 for utilities and £4.75 for insurance in 2008-9. He was paid £125 in April 2007 for financial planning advice, which is not allowable. He was paid £781 for council tax in 2007-8. This was £120.24 in excess of council tax charged in that year. | £290.82 |
Gordon
Brown Labour |
Kirkcaldy & Cowdenbeath, |
The PM was paid a total of £21,189.53 for cleaning costs between April 2004 and March 2009, exceeding the maximum allowable by £11,189.53. He was also paid £1,396 twice in April and July 2006 for redecoration. He was further paid £1,302.50 in 2007-8 for garden maintenance, exceeding the allowable maximum by £302.50. | £12,888.03 |
| Russell
Brown Labour |
Dumfries & Galloway | Mr Brown was paid for 13 months' rent in 2008-9, resulting in an overpayment of £1,146.63. | £1,146.63 |
| Malcolm
Bruce Lib Dem |
Gordon | Mr Bruce was paid a total of £622 twice for insurance in October 2004 and September 2006. | £622.00 |
| David
Cairns Labour |
Inverclyde | Mr Cairns was overpaid by a total of £2,782.30 for his service charge and parking space for January to June 2007. | £2,782.30 |
| Sir
Menzies
Campbell Lib Dem |
NE
Fife |
Sir Menzies was paid £1,490.66 over 2006-8 for the services of an interior designer, which are regarded as unnecessary. | £1,490.66 |
| Alistair
Carmichael Lib Dem |
Orkney & Shetland | Mr Carmichael was paid a total of £243.90 twice for three items: phone bill in September 2005, £70.12; phone bill in December 2005, £42.28; and TV licence in July 2006, £131.50. He was also paid £90 for legal costs associated with non-payment of council tax in 2007-8 and £146.88 legal fees due to late payment of service charge/ground rent in May 2007. These costs were not allowable. | £480.78 |
| Katy
Clark Labour. |
North Ayrshire & Arran |
Ms Clark was paid a total of £336.39 between November 2006 and January 2007 for mobile bills and accessories, which are not allowable under the ACA. She was also paid £446.50 in January 2007 for removal expenses, which was also not allowable. | £782.89 |
| Michael
Connarty Labour |
Linlithgow & East Falkirk |
Mr Connarty was overpaid by £309.02 for service charges during 2004-5. He was also overpaid by £4,872.54 for mortgage interest for 2004-5 and 2005-6. | £5,181.56 |
| Alistair
Darling Labour |
Edinburgh SW | The Chancellor was paid £1,104 for a chest of drawers in February 2007. That exceeded the guideline price of £550 by £554. | £554.00 |
| Ian
Davidson Labour |
Glasgow
SW |
Mr Davidson was overpaid £474.47 for mortgage interest in 2007-8. He was paid a total of £120 for court costs associated with non-payment of council tax. He was also overpaid by £646.92 for council tax in 2007-8 | £1,241.39 Reduced on appeal by: £474.47 |
| Jim
Devine Labour |
Livingston |
Mr Devine was not asked to pay anything back, but has been barred from standing again as a Labour candidate because of issues with his expenses. Sir Thomas Legg said he did not look at expenses which were already under investigation by other authorities | |
| Nigel
Griffiths,
JP Labour |
Edinburgh South | Mr Griffiths was overpaid by a total of £4,005.84 for mortgage interest between 2004 and 2007. Mr Griffiths' mortgage lender has acknowledged that the interest calculations it provided to the MP, and were used as the basis of his claims, contained errors. The mortgage lender is therefore arranging to reimburse the Commons directly for this element, which has yet to be determined. | £4,005.84 |
| David
Hamilton Labour |
Midlothian | Mr Hamilton was overpaid by a total of £2,595.51 for mortgage interest from 2004-9. | £2,595.51 |
| Jimmy
Hood Labour |
Lanark & Hamilton East, | Mr Hood was overpaid a total of
£1,185 in 2006-7 (for the following items: £400 for food, £80 for
utilities, £75 for council tax, £100 for telephone and
telecommunications, £200 for cleaning, £200 for service/maintenance and
£130 for repairs, insurance, security). He was also overpaid by a total of £3,783.35 for mortgage interest from 2004-6. He was further overpaid by £445.14 for mortgage interest in 2006-7. |
£5,413.49 |
Stewart
Hosie SNP |
Dundee
East |
Mr Hosie was paid £379.45 in February 2009 for staying in a hotel when his home was flooded. This cost should have been reclaimed on insurance. | £379.45 |
| Eric
Joyce Labour |
Falkirk |
Mr Joyce was overpaid by a total
of £5,002.56 for mortgage interest
from 2004-8. In addition, Mr Joyce was paid twice for a claim of £3,000
for mortgage interest for the period November to December 2007. He was also paid twice in the same period for council tax, cleaning and service/maintenance claims totalling £600. |
£8,602.56 |
| Angus
MacNeil SNP |
Na h-Eileanan An Iar |
Mr MacNeil was overpaid by £133 for council tax in 2007-8. | £133.00 |
| Jim
McGovern Labour |
Dundee West | Mr McGovern was overpaid by £266.54 in December 2005 for furnishings and hardware. | £266.54 |
| Rosemary
McKenna Labour |
Cumbernauld, Kilsyth & Kirkintilloch East | Mrs McKenna was overpaid by a total of £3,008.93 for rent from 2005-8. | £3,008.93 |
| Anne
Moffat Labour |
East
Lothian |
Ms Moffat was overpaid by £1,617.09 for mortgage interest in 2008-9. She was also paid a total of £1,256.44 in 2008-9 for items that related to her main home (£152.16 for insurance, £476.09 for telephone bills and £628.19 for a Sky package). | £2,873.53 |
David
Mundell Conservative |
Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale & Tweeddale | The shadow Scottish secretary was paid for 13 months of rent in 2006-7. This included a payment for rent for March 2006, which was not identified as such and which had not been included in claims for 2005-6. The overpayment was £1,300. | £1,300.00 |
| Jim
Murphy Labour |
East Renfrewshire | The Scottish Secretary was
overpaid a total
of £197.46 for mortgage interest over two years of the review period
(£9.94 in 2004-5; £187.52 in 2006-7). He was also paid £380 twice for
food in May 2004. |
£577.46 |
| Sandra
Osborne Labour |
Ayr, Carrick & Cumnock | Mrs Osborne was paid a total of £1,343.50 twice in April 2004 (£749 for furniture, £544.50 for council tax, and £50 for utilities). She was also overpaid by £1,268.62 for rent in 2005-6. | £2,612.12 |
| Dr
John Reid Labour |
Airdrie & Shotts | Dr Reid was paid £1,410 twice in
April 2007. In July 2007, he was paid
£1,179.63 for removal costs. £975.00 of this was used for the transfer
of furniture to a residence in Ireland, which was not an allowable
expense. In April 2008, he was paid £346.88 for marketing the previous second home, which was also not allowable. |
£2,731.88 |
| William
Rennie Lib Dem |
Dunfermline & West Fife | Mr Rennie was overpaid a total of £123.10 through duplicate payments for electricity in 2006-7. He was also overpaid a total of £2,450 through duplicated payments for rent (£1,250 in March 2006 and £1,200 in January 2007). | £2,573.10 |
| Angus
Robertson SNP |
Moray |
The SNP's Westminster leader was paid £2,324 in February 2006 for a leather bed settee, exceeding what was necessary by £1,114. He was further overpaid by £103 in 2007-8 for a DVD player. | £1,217.00 |
| John
Robertson Labour |
Glasgow
NW |
Mr Robertson was paid a total of
£1,750 in petty cash between April and
November 2004. This was not an allowable expense under the Green Book
rules. He was paid a total of £7,225 for cleaning costs. These exceeded £2,000 a year by a total of £1,225. |
£2,975.00 |
| Frank
Roy Labour |
Motherwell & Wishaw | Overpaid by £545.79 for mortgage interest in 2005-6. | £545.79 Reduced on appeal by: £545.79 |
| Mohammad
Sarwar Labour |
Glasgow Central | Mr Sarwar was paid a total of £123.83 twice for telephone bills in 2005-6. He was also paid £122.12 in February 2005 for mobile phone bills, which are not allowable under the ACA, although they could be claimed under the Incidental Expenses Provision | £245.95 |
| Jim
Sheridan Labour |
Paisley & Renfrewshire North | Mr Sheridan was overpaid by £200 for food in October 2008. He was also overpaid by £200 for council tax in May-June 2005. | £400.00 |
| John
Thurso Lib Dem |
Caithness, Sutherland & Easter Ross | Mr Thurso was overpaid a total of £548.21 for council tax in three years (£297.95 in 2005-6; £175.10 in 2006-7; and £75.16 in 2007-8) | £548.21 |
| Peter Wishart SNP |
Perth & North Perthshire | Mr Wishart was overpaid by £1,408.53 for rent in 2007-8. He was also overpaid a total of £223.97 in 2008-9 (£66.11 for a telephone bill, and £157.86 for an electricity bill). | £1,632.50 |
See also:
Alex Salmond claimed £800 for food on MPs' expenses during recess
Darling and Beckett got expenses for homes despite grace-and ...
Toilet paper adds to MSPs' £10m expenses
Chancellor quits law body as expenses inquiry begins
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