A Labour MP was hauled up before the parliamentary expenses body after hitting a credit card problem created by a dispute over the return of a rental deposit.
Debbie Abrahams, the MP for Oldham, was one of 19 MPs to face action by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, which issues MPs with credit cards to pay for travel, accommodation and approved expenses.
The politicians must prove any spending is for parliamentary business - if it is not, they have to repay the authority at the end of each month.
Abrahams, who was first elected in 2011, had her card suspended when she was found to owe £2,586.90 - a sum she has since repaid.
In an explanation she gave to the Oldham Evening Chronicle she said the amount in question was for a tenancy deposit which a previous landlord had refused to return.
“I was in protracted correspondence with IPSA and others over many months. When it became clear the deposit wouldn’t be repaid before the dissolution of parliament, I took out a loan to repay IPSA - which I did before the deadline. I continue to pursue the lettings agency and former landlord for the return of the deposit” she says.
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What a surprise. Those in glass houses and all that. Labour have constantly gone after the PRS with draconian policies and ill-informed nonsense, but how can they possibly take the moral high ground with behaviour like this from one of their MPs. Disgraceful.
We received a complaint from an MP on behalf of a tenant applicant, arguing that it was wholly unreasonable for us to 'take ID' which was an inappropriate invasion of privacy and risk of fraud. I might agree, but I had to point out that we were only complying with the Anti Money Laundering best practice regulations introduced by MP's...
Seems like an ill judged attempt to place the blame for her own personal cash mismanagement on others. All the deposit schemes offer redress in less than three months
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