Spelthorne MP under fire for £160k expenses claim (From Your Local Guardian)

Spelthorne MP under fire for £160k expenses claim

1:50pm Thursday 9th April 2009 in

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Spelthorne MP David Wilshire is the latest politician to come under attack for a huge expenses bill – claiming more than £160,000 out of the public purse.

Mr Wilshire, who racked up the largest expenses claim out of all 11 Surrey MPs, is no stranger to controversy, after it was revealed last year that he claimed more than £100,000 in the last five years on a flat less than 15 miles from where he lives.

Taxpayers met the £160,532 bill, of which £7,292 was filed under travel expenses and £23,083 claimed for staying away from his main home.

Figures showed that of Surrey’s MPs, who claimed more than £1.5m in expenses between them, Mr Wilshire made the largest claim of all.

Mr Wilshire, who lives in Hanworth Park and has a second home in Somerset, has been the joint highest claimant among all MPs in four out of five years of the Additional Cost Allowance (ACA), for a flat in Westminster.

Liberal Democrats criticised Mr Wilshire, who voted against recommendations at Westminster to have MPs expenses externally audited, for his spending of public funds.

Spelthorne Liberal Democrat parliamentary campaigner Mark Chapman said: “The plans put forward by Lib Dem MP Nick Harvey, on behalf of the Members’ Estimate Committee, wanted the expenses of MPs to be audited externally.

“The plan was to make expenses transparent in line with other public bodies in order to restore faith in allowances.

“The public have lost faith in MPs and believe parliamentary expenses are an excuse for them to line their pockets.

“Having their MP vote to keep out external auditors doesn’t help.

“He already sets a bad example by claiming a second home allowance year on year, despite having easy access to Parliament from his constituency.

“It’s no wonder the public are so outraged by all these revelations.”

Councillor Colin Davies backed Mr Wilshire, saying he was a value for money MP who did the job well.

Mr Wilshire was unavailable for comment.