MPs furious over pay-back letters

PRIME Minister Gordon Brown has urged MPs to follow his lead in paying back excessive expenses claims.

But many backbenchers are livid that they must now repay claims that were fully approved by Commons officials..

Hundreds of MPs have had their expenses claims for the last five years reassessed by Sir Thomas Legg and been sent letters on what he feels they should pay back.

Mr Brown is to pay back £12,415 that he claimed largely for cleaning and gardening and has urged Labour backbenchers to follow his example.

And Tory leader David Cameron warned his own MPs they faced being barred from standing as Conservatives if they failed to pay back money.

But many MPs are angry that Sir Thomas has applied new limits to categories like gardening and cleaning.

Oldham East and Saddleworth MP Phil Woolas said he had not yet received his letter but was not expecting any problems.

He claimed the issue had been misreported and expressed concerns that MPs were being judged on their past behaviour under new standards that have been set since the expenses scandal erupted.

He said: “What the letter says, apparently, is they are provisional and open to discussion.

“I hope that people recognise that if they have changed the rules in retrospect it puts people in a difficult position.

“I think we have to draw a line under it. I’m fed up of it.

“It’s completely distracting from getting on with the job.”

Oldham West and Royton MP Michael Meacher and Ashton MP David Heyes, whose constituency covers Hollinwood and Failsworth, are yet to reveal what their letters say.