MP claimed over paid-off mortgage
A former government minister claimed parliamentary expenses of more than £16,000 for interest on a mortgage on his second home after the loan had been paid off, it has been reported.
Elliot Morley continued claiming £800 a month for the property in his Scunthorpe constituency for 18 months after the loan was repaid in 2006, said the Daily Telegraph.
The paper reported that the former agriculture minister has apologised for the overclaim and said he had repaid some money, though he refused to say how much.
A Downing Street political spokesman said Labour's Chief Whip Nick Brown would meet Mr Morley and other MPs caught up in the latest expenses row, which comes as Prime Minister Gordon Brown prepares to launch Labour's campaign for the June 4 European and council elections.
On the seventh day of its investigation into the parliamentary allowances system, the Telegraph said that the disclosure relating to Mr Morley was the most serious yet revealed. It quoted lawyers' opinions that the claims could constitute a criminal offence.
In a statement to the paper, the MP said: "I do not believe any offence has been committed. I have reported this to the finance department and chief whip.
"I have made a mistake, I apologise for that and I take full responsibility. My priority was to repay and if I suffer financially as a result of that, I have only myself to blame."
The Telegraph reported that Mr Morley's overclaim was not uncovered by the Commons authorities, but that official Land Registry documents showed that the mortgage on the Scunthorpe property was paid off in March 2006.
It said that in 2007, Mr Morley "flipped" his designated second home to a London house which he was renting out to fellow Labour MP Ian Cawsey. For four months, he was claiming full mortgage interest on the house, while receiving £1,000 a month in rent on the same property from Mr Cawsey, paid from parliamentary expenses.
Chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party Tony Lloyd wrote to all the party's MPs today, urging them to publish details of their own expenses as a matter of urgency, without waiting for the Commons authorities to do so next month.
