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Moran given £4,000 slap on the wrist over expenses
Thursday, February 04, 2010

Luton's absent Labour MP, Margaret Moran, has escaped with a £4,000 slap on the wrist for her expense abuses. This relatively small amount compared to the total expense claims we have all heard about (including the infamous £22,500 dry rot claim) may surprise many people.

It would appear that while Ms Moran pushed the spirit of the rules to the absolute limit, she actually only broke the rules and therefore is under a procedural obligation (as opposed to a moral one) to repay for the four items listed below, only, totalling £4,059.86.

Ms Moran has already repaid £6,000 and her official balance is therefore zero. But she has made public statements agreeing to repay the entire dry rot claim - under pressure from the public and in the light of her constituents anger in particular. She therefore still has about £20,500 to repay. I will give the lady credit for going some way to making amends, but will only be happy when I see she has repaid the full amount she has promised to repay.

David Cameron is taking a firm line. He has said all MP's identified in the report should pay the money back and called on those who refuse to pay to have their salaries and pensions docked. He has told Conservative MP's who may be temtped to go against the findings that they will not be able to stand as Conservative MP's at the forthcoming general election.

Here is the extract from the Legg Report.

Ms Margaret Moran MP

Luton South

Ms Moran was over-paid by a total of £109.59 for mortgage interest in 2006-07.

She was also paid a net total of £527.20 twice in 2005-06 for a mattress.

She was paid a total of £3,140.42 in March and April 2007 for gardening costs. This exceeded the allowable maximum by a total of £1,140.42.

She was further paid £2,282.65 for repairs after a front room roof collapse in April 2007. Home insurance should have covered a substantial part of this cost, but the cover had run out two months previously.

Total repayment recommended: £4,059.86
Total repayments received since 1 April 2009: £6,000.00
Balance recommended to be repaid: £0.00

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	Ms Moran was over-paid by a total of £109.59 for mortgage interest in 2006-07.
	She was also paid a net total of £527.20 twice in 2005-06 for a mattress.
	She was paid a total of £3,140.42 in March and April 2007 for gardening costs. This exceeded the allowable maximum by a total of £1,140.42.
	She was further paid £2,282.65 for repairs after a front room roof collapse in April 2007. Home insurance should have covered a substantial part of this cost, but the cover had run out two months previously.