Tory couple broke expenses rules
Updated on 18 June 2008
Tory MPs Sir Nicholas and Ann Winterton broke Parliamentary expenses rules by claiming rent on a £700,000 flat they had bought outright.
However, the Commons Committee on Standards and Privileges has accepted that the breach regarding the London property was accidental and the couple can continue to receive expenses against its costs until September.
The Wintertons bought the property in the early 1990s, but subsequently paid off the mortgage. They then put the property into a family trust in order to avoid inheritance tax.
Since February 2002, they have occupied it as tenants, and paid the trust rent using their Commons allowance for running a second home.
The sleaze watchdog branded the arrangement an "unusual" use of expenses, and criticised the Wintertons for failing to check regularly whether Parliamentary rules still allowed it.
The Committee said the couple is "arguably" in breach of the rules following changes to expenses rules in 2003, which banned MPs from using Additional Costs Allowance (ACA) to rent from themselves.
But the position is "unequivocal" following further changes to regulations in July 2006, because they and their children had an interest in the Trust.
"In our view, the Wintertons have been in breach of the rules applying to the ACA since July 2006, a fact of which they were made officially aware in February 2007."
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