Former minister forced to pay back £13,837

Published: Fri, 30 Oct 2009 08:30:00

Former minister Tony McNulty has been told to pay back over £13,000 in expenses claims. The Harrow East MP was the subject of an investigation by the parliamentary commissioner for standards, Sir John Lyon, who passed on his findings to the standards and privileges committee. The committee has now called for the £13,837 to be repaid, while Mr McNulty has personally apologised to the House of Commons.

Mr McNulty claimed his second home allowance for a property in which his parents lived in Harrow, eight miles from his home in central London. He stood down as a minister in June amid a cloud of criticism, but had previously insisted he had been within the rules of the time. In a statement to MPs on Thursday though, Mr McNulty said: "I accept fully that I made careless mistakes on mortgage interest and council tax claims.

"I further accept the informal nature of my arrangements. I regret I did not recognise a more formal arrangement would have been wise and preferable to have not given the appearance of benefit.

"I accept the report's conclusion in full including the requirement to repay, without complaint and apologise without reservation to the House. "It is, however, time to move on." Sir John's memorandum to the committee stated that Mr McNulty breached the rules "in not offsetting all the living costs of his parents who lived there as their sole residence, including their rental costs or equivalent, in the claims he made for his Harrow property".

The standards and privileges committee's report stated: "We conclude that Mr McNulty breached the rules of the House by claiming against his additional costs allowance for expenses in respect of his second home that were not wholly and exclusively incurred in connection with his parliamentary duties. "This had the effect of subsidising the living costs of Mr McNulty's parents from public funds." Mr McNulty's apology will come as a fresh blow to the government, after former home secretary Jacqui Smith was also made to apologise to the Commons earlier this month.

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