Met urged to investigate Laws’ expenses breach

Thomas Docherty said he was asking Scotland Yard to mount a criminal investigation after Mr Laws was found guilty of breaching parliamentary rules.

“If this matter was not referred to the police the public would rightly ask is there one law for David Laws, and another for them,” Mr Docherty said.

“If anyone else had fraudulently obtained £50,000 and their defence was that they had done it to protect their privacy, then they would rightfully have had the book thrown at them.”

“If anyone else had fraudulently obtained £50,000 and their defence was that they had done it to protect their privacy, then they would rightfully have had the book thrown at them.” Thomas Docherty, Labour MP

Former Chief Secretary to the Treasury David Laws will be suspended from the Commons for seven days over a breach of parliamentary expenses rules.

Mr Laws resigned as Chief Secretary to the Treasury just 17 days into the coalition after admitting he had claimed allowances to pay his partner James Lundie rent.

He later paid back £56,592, the full amount of his second home allowance claims between July 2006 and July 2009.

Mr Laws has argued that his motive was to conceal his homosexuality, rather than make a profit.

Under the rules, rent claimed on expenses cannot be paid to a relative or spouse.

In a statement after sentencing, he said: “I accept the conclusions of the inquiry and take full responsibility for the mistakes which I have made.

“My motivation was to protect my privacy, rather than to benefit from the system of parliamentary expenses, and I am pleased that the Commissioner has upheld that view.

“The taxpayer gained, rather than lost out, from my desire for secrecy, though I fully accept that this is not an adequate reason for breaking the rules.”

“The taxpayer gained, rather than lost out, from my desire for secrecy, though I fully accept that this is not an adequate reason for breaking the rules.” David Laws, Former Lib Dem MP

The Common Standards and Privileges Committee said that there must be consequences for breaching the rules, regardless of Mr Laws’ “motives and subsequent behaviour”.

Standards Commissioner John Lyon also said the MP had misled the Commons authorities since he was elected to parliament in 2001 by filing lodging agreements that gave a “false impression” of his relationship with Mr Lundie.

“Mr Laws’ wish to maintain his personal privacy cannot, in my view, justify – although it may explain – such conduct.”

The committee agreed with the findings, saying the rental agreements submitted between 2003 and 2008 were misleading.

The MPs accepted that Mr Laws could have made higher claims had he been open about his living arrangements, and used expenses to run his substantial Somerset home.

But they added: “While it is clear that Mr Laws could have arranged his affairs in a way which was less good value for money, we do not agree that the criterion of value for money should be established by comparing his potential claims with his actual claims.”

Former Labour MP Eric Illsley, who was jailed for wrongly claiming £14,500 in expenses, claimed that compared to Mr Laws’ treatment, he had been made a scapegoat.

Mr Illsley, who was released from prison on Friday, said: “I’ve been dealt with in court and I’ve pleaded guilty and I have been given a prison sentence, and I have got on with it. But it does seem rather strange that I have done that, and then the next person who was found to have broken the rules in relation to expenses is simply allowed to carry on with his career by apologising to the House.”