Decision day over criminal charges

claiming for a mortgage which had already been paid off.

Publishing his report yesterday, Sir Thomas, a former senior civil servant, criticised the “vague” rules under the “deeply flawed” expenses regime – but faced fierce criticism himself after more than 40 MPs won appeals against his verdicts.

Retiring Keighley MP Ann Cryer won her appeal against paying back more than 16,000 paid in rent to her son-in-law, while fellow Labour backbencher Colin Challen, MP for Morley and Rothwell, had his repayment cut by nearly 9,000.

Senior Labour backbencher Barry Sheerman criticised Sir Thomas as “inefficient” and George Mudie, a Government whip, said the former mandarin had “spoiled” a largely good job by being subjective and applying rules retrospectively.

Most MPs asked to repay have already done so but several have yet to respond and face having it taken out of their salaries if they have not done so by February 22.

Bradford West MP Marsha Singh has to repay 5,026.84 in overpayments on mortgage interest and mobile phone bills for which MPs cannot claim, while Bradford South MP and Sports Minister Gerry Sutcliffe must return 2,786.14 for the same reasons.

Former Europe Minister Denis MacShane, MP for Rotherham, has been warned he will have to find another 6,001 if he does not produce mortgage statements covering two years by March 1.

In total, Yorkshire MPs will have repaid more than 108,000 in expenses claimed on their second homes, including more than 8,000 repaid by Yorkshire Minister Rosie Winterton over payments included for mortgage capital, which cannot be claimed for.

Sir Thomas recommended 390 MPs should repay 1.3m of “invalid” claims. However, 44 MPs won at least part of their appeal, cutting the final amount to 1.12m.

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