Speaker hopefuls face more claims

MPs in the running to succeed Michael Martin as House of Commons Speaker on Monday have come under scrutiny in more allegations over expenses claims.

Details of tax-funded expenses have been published in The Sunday Telegraph.

The paper says Labour's Margaret Beckett claimed more than £11,000 for gardening and Tory MP John Bercow twice claimed for help with a tax return.

Mr Martin became the first Speaker to be forced from office in 300 years when he stood down last month.

The Sunday Telegraph's allegations suggest that former Cabinet minister Margaret Beckett claimed almost £11,000 in gardening expenses over seven years, including £1,380 for plants.

She told the paper that the earlier set of claims were done when the rules were less strict.

"We have always tried to make sure we are within the rules and procedures, and clearly what is regarded as claimable has changed over a period of time," she said.

"MPs are not free in the evenings or weekends to work in the garden, and gardening has always been considered a legitimate expense in relation to second home allowances."

'Nothing to hide'

The Telegraph also says Tory MP John Bercow claimed twice for accountants to complete his tax return, which costs the taxpayer £480 each time.

The paper says that Mr Bercow did not return its calls.

It also identifies Liberal Democrat Sir Alan Beith as using office expenses to pay for a secretary to work in his constituency during the 2005 general election campaign, at a cost of £220 a week.

Sir Alan said: "My secretary does not do campaigning work during general elections precisely because she is paid from parliamentary allowances."

Another allegation is made about Sir Patrick Cormack, a Tory backbencher, who is said to have claimed expenses on both his homes by designating part of his main residence as an office, thereby claiming £9,820 towards heating, lighting, cleaning, insurance and council tax bills

Sir Patrick said his expenses had been published on his website for several weeks and said: "I have absolutely nothing to hide.

"This is an entirely legitimate arrangement agreed in writing by the fees office.

"My wife is one of my secretaries and has been since 1970. For years she worked without being paid a penny," he said.

"We agreed the figures with the fees office and they are entirely legitimate. It's absolutely within the rules and fully declared and itemised."

Speaker candidates

The Telegraph also says Labour MP Parmjit Dhanda over-claimed for mortgage interest on his second home allowance at least twice.

Mr Dhanda said: "I believe the Telegraph has got this wrong because this was an interest-only mortgage and the figure that I have claimed is the figure requested by the bank on my statement.

"If anything I have under-claimed my mortgage over the last four years because I haven't updated statements as often as I should have done when the interest rates went up."

All these MPs are among the 10 contenders bidding to become the new Speaker.

The latest expense allegations came after police launched a criminal inquiry into an alleged misuse of expenses by a small number of MPs and peers.

BBC political correspondent Laura Kuenssberg said there may be opposition to some of the hopefuls taking the post.

"Some of the candidates have been part of the Commons Commission, that's the rather obscure-sounding authority that runs the House of Commons that has in recent years been trying to block publication of these expenses," she said.