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MPs facing standards inquiry over homes allowance
YORKSHIRE MPs Ed Balls and Yvette Cooper are under investigation by the Parliamentary standards watchdog over their expenses.
The husband and wife cabinet ministers, who are close allies of Gordon Brown, are being probed over their use of the second homes allowance.
Between them, the Schools Secretary and the Chief Secretary to the Treasury claimed nearly 32,000 in allowances to fund their London home last year.
The office of the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner, John Lyon, confirmed today he had accepted a complaint over the arrangement by Tory MP Malcolm Moss.
Questions have been raised over whether the London property is, in fact, the couple's second home.
They have another house in Yorkshire, where they have neighbouring constituencies.
The Additional Costs Allowance (ACA), under which they have claimed for their London residence, is not to be used for MPs' primary residence.
A spokesman for the couple said today: "Ed Balls and Yvette Cooper have done everything in accordance with advice from the Fees Office, which has confirmed they have acted within the rules."
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Saturday 11 February 2012
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