Bromsgrove MP Julie Kirkbride to publish expense claims
A West Midlands MP at the centre of a fresh expenses scandal has promised to publish full details of her claims after it emerged she and her MP husband were both claiming for different second homes – despite sharing properties.
Julie Kirkbride (Con Bromsgrove), who is married to Andrew MacKay, insisted she understood “the public anger” after her husband was forced to resign as a senior aide to David Cameron.
Mr MacKay was a Birmingham MP in the 1970s and now represents Bracknell in Berkshire. He quit as a policy adviser to Mr Cameron, the Tory leader, after details of his living arrangements were published by the Conservative Party itself, in an apparent attempt to limit the damage before they were revealed by a newspaper.
It emerged he had claimed a second home allowance when he owned only one home, a London property he shared with his wife.
Ms Kirkbride also owned a home in her Bromsgrove constituency, allowing her legitimately to claim a second home allowance on the London residence.
She insisted her expenses claims were “both permissible and reasonable”, and promised to make her expense details available for scrutiny by her constituents as soon as possible.
The MP added: “Parliament is quite rightly coming under intense scrutiny on this issue. As Bromsgrove MP for 12 years I want to assure my constituents that I understand the public anger.”
