Edinburgh MPs pre-empt expenses audit

Edinburgh’s five MPs have been left largely undamaged by the audit of parliamentary expenses, after two of them made pre-emptive repayments of expenses.

Mark Lazarowicz, the backbench Labour MP for Edinburgh North & Leith paid back £2,675 earlier this year that he had wrongly claimed for legal and professional fees. Chancellor Alistair Darling has also repaid hundreds of pounds claimed for service charges on his second home in London.

Mr Lazarowicz later said his decision to pre-emptively return the money may have been an overreaction due to a "hysterical atmosphere in Westminster".

The investigation led by Sir Thomas Legg—a retired career civil servant—is tasked with deciding whether MPs have misused the expenses system and how much, if anything, they should pay back.

The two Edinburgh MPs with contentious expenses claims—Alistair Darling and Mr Lazarowicz—returned money to parliament’s fees office in advance of Legg’s preliminary findings.

Mr Lazarowicz agreed he would still return the funds, saying: "I will pay it back, because I actually accept at the end of the day the fundamental principle that MPs shouldn't actually benefit from property they have acquired."

Mr Darling, the Chancellor of the Exchequer and Labour MP for Edinburgh South-West, was accused of billing the taxpayer for two homes simultaneously, “flipping” the designation of his second home four times in as many years and claiming the costs of accountancy advice.

Earlier this year he agreed to pay back hundreds of pounds in service charges he claimed on his London flat while also using the second home allowance to cover his grace-and-favour residence in Downing Street.

Under the instruction of Sir Thomas Legg, Darling will now also repay £554 which he claimed towards a chest of drawers to furnish his second home.

He was also asked to provide proof of mortgage interest payments on his second home. When allegations of his wrongful expenses claims originally came to light, Mr Darling commented: “I'm very sorry about it, I unreservedly apologise for it—it shouldn't have happened.”

Nigel Griffiths, the backbench Labour MP for Edinburgh South has been asked by Sir Thomas to provide written confirmation that the flat he occupies in London is designated as a second home.

He told The Journal: “This is the same flat I've occupied during my entire time as an MP, so I'll be able to provide written confirmation that it is my 'second home'.”

Mr Griffiths came under fire earlier in the year when details of an unsuccessful £3,604.99 claim for a television, DVD player and digital radio was published in the Telegraph newspaper.

When queried by the parliamentary authorities, he cited that it was important “as a Scottish MP” to “keep in touch with events during the day, which might affect my constituents.”

John Barrett, Liberal Democrat Work and Pensions spokesman and MP for Edinburgh North and Leith was given the all-clear by Legg—albeit after some confusion.

Barrett’s original letter from Legg asked for a copy of a rental agreement that he had supplied to the parliamentary fees office four years previously.

Mr Barrett told The Journal: “They [Legg’s team] confirmed this was the case… No amounts were asked to be repaid and nothing else was asked for.”

The Labour MP for Edinburgh East, Gavin Strang, who is to retire at the next election is seen to have come out best from the furore.

He is the only Edinburgh MP to publish his letter in full, and over the past four years has claimed around half the second home allowance of some of his local counterparts.

Strang has emphasised the need for new transparent regulations. He said: “Full transparency is fundamental if we are to start to reverse the damage to the body politic. After all, this is about public money—there are no commercial or personal security reasons for keeping expenses secret.”