Westbury MP pays his debt to society

8.57.00am GMT Mon 15th Feb 2010

Andrew Murrison MP "overclaimed" on his parliamentary expenses by a total of £5,525.64. Following the exposure of MP expenses scams by The Daily Telegraph this sum has now been repaid with interest. Here are the details from the Legg report.

Dr Murrison was overpaid by a total of £550.27 for mortgage interest (£300.69 in 2004-05; £202.51 in 2005-06; and £47.07 in 2007-08).

In addition, he was overpaid by a total of £1,563.26 for mortgage interest as a result of increasing his mortgage by £10,323 in September 2004 for a purpose not shown to be allowable under the Green Book rules.

He was paid £515.60 twice for service charge and ground rent in 2004-05.

He was also overpaid by a total of £299.20 in March 2006 for a sofa and two dining chairs which cost £191 and £108.20 respectively more than the guideline prices.

He was further paid £411.11, also in March 2006, for a carpet fitting service to take furniture from the second home to the main home, which was not an allowable expense.

He was paid £800 over the period May 2006 to March 2008 for a home office, which was also not allowable under the Green Book rules.

He was paid £135 twice for a TV licence in 2007-08.

He was also paid £408.78 twice for service charges in 2007-08.

He was paid £199 twice for water rates in May - June 2008.

He was paid £415.22 in May 2008 for service/maintenance charges without supporting evidence.

He was paid £228.20 twice in November 2008 - February 2009 for a gas bill.

Total repayment recommended: £5,525.64

Total repayments received since 1 April 2009: £5536.24

Balance recommended to be repaid: £0.00

Before the "overpayments" came to light Murrison had described himself as a 'Mother Theresa' amongst MPs.

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The taxpayer has recovered some £12,000 from Wiltshire's Conservative MPs. The details are at: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200910/cmselect/cmmemest/348/348.pdf