Sir Alan responds to expenses reports

You will be as surprised as I am exasperated by seeing my name mentioned in the press again in connection with claims against my parliamentary allowance. 

The information released by the House of Commons authorities covers the 08/09 tax year and the first quarter of the current year. My claims were made under the old system which has now been drastically revised. All the claims were backed up by invoices from the service providers which in some cases contained additional items in respect of which no actual claim was made. My gardener certainly provided strawberry plants, but I made no claim for them. It was the window cleaner who described part of my property, falsely, as a playhouse. From April of this year my additional costs allowance has been claimed against my London home. This is not a case of ‘flipping’ as I do not own the London property. Thus there is no capital gain or tax advantage accruing to me. In fact it has meant a reduction in my claims, the details of which are on my website.

In common with all M.P.’s my claims for the whole of the last five years including 08/09 have been subject to independent review by Sir Thomas Legg. As will shortly be made public I have met his requirements by way of recompense in respect of cleaning and gardening for that entire period. 

The system of allowances has already been severely restricted, but further restrictions will follow implementation of Sir Christopher Kelly’s recommendations in 2010.

I hope you will share my concern over these sloppy and inaccurate reports.