MP reports colleagues over their expenses

A serving MP has reported six parliamentary colleagues – including two former Cabinet Ministers – to police over alleged abuse of expenses, it has been reported.

It is claimed that the Labour MP, who represents a Northern constituency, passed details of alleged wrongdoing to police because he believes he was unfairly singled out for investigation over his own allowances.

If confirmed, it would be the first time since the expenses scandal erupted in 2009 that an MP has made a complaint to police about fellow members of the Commons.

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According to a Sunday paper, the politicians against whom the complaints have been made are two Labour MPs, two Conservatives and two Liberal Democrats.

Scotland Yard said "a small number" of parliamentary expenses cases remained under consideration by a panel of detectives and prosecutors, but was unable to say whether any fresh cases had been brought to their attention recently. The force did not reveal the identity of its informants.

Some 10 files have been handed to the Crown Prosecution Service by the Metropolitan police force's economic and specialist crime unit, of which six led to charges and two to no further action being taken, while two others remain under consideration.

Former Labour MP David Chaytor, of Todmorden, was jailed for 18 months earlier this month after admitting false accounting, while Barnsley Central MP Eric Illsley announced last week that he is to step down from Parliament after pleading guilty to dishonestly claiming more than 14,000. He will be sentenced next month