Friday 8 May 2009

Get the police to probe now !!!!!!!

Ministers have defended their expenses claims saying all were made within the rules, as police are asked to probe how the details were leaked to a newspaper.
Lord Mandelson, who claimed £2,850 for his home, before quitting as an MP and selling it for a large profit, said the claims were for essential repairs. Justice Secretary Jack Straw said he had repaid £1,500 which he claimed to cover the full rate of council tax on his constituency home - when he was getting a 50% discount. He told the BBC he had acted "in complete good faith and within the rules" but regretted the "error" on council tax.
But asked how his colleague - Environment Secretary Hilary Benn - apparently managed to claim only £140 for the whole year under the allowance, Mr Straw added: "I will talk to Hilary about how he manages it."
Downing Street says there was "nothing wrong" with Gordon Brown's £6,500 claim to pay his brother for a cleaner.
His spokesman said any suggestion there was something wrong in the arrangement whereby Mr Brown paid his brother for a cleaner they both shared was "wholly unjustified".
The Telegraph revelations include Communities Secretary Hazel Blears claiming three different properties within a year were her "second home" - the first her Salford constituency, the second two in London. MPs can claim up to £24,000 a year towards the costs of their second home.
Ms Blears said the claims were "entirely in accordance with the rules" adding: "I have only ever had one small, one-bedroom flat at any time in London." But she did not answer questions about whether the claims were justified

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