EXPENSES ISSUE: Bob Walter MP repays £458

MP for North Dorset, Bob Walter, has issued a statement following Sir Thomas Legg’s audit:

“I have now received a letter from Sir Thomas Legg concerning my Parliamentary expenses over the past five years. Sir Thomas has asked me to repay two items amounting in total to £458, which I have agreed to do. He has also raised a third item, which requires clarification, and I will be discussing this with him.  If any repayment is required in respect of this item I will make a full statement when Sir Thomas’s report is finalised

“Sir Thomas Legg has retrospectively imposed a limit on claims for gardening expenses of £1000 per year over the 5 years from 2004 to 2009. Applying that limit for the five years in question he has requested I repay £358. He has also revisited a claim for a small item of furniture and suggested that the Department of Finance and Administration overpaid me in the sum of £100. I will repay both amounts.

“I understand the public’s anger over this whole affair, which has severely damaged the reputation of Parliament both in this country and abroad. At no time have I sought to do anything irregular and in the spirit of drawing a line under this issue have agreed to repay these sums immediately.

“The Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Nick Clegg, has also repaid £910 in respect of gardening expenses and has appealed that…….

“I think that the public anger about MPs expenses is so great and so understandably great that whatever your views on how Sir Thomas Legg has interpreted the rules, the key thing now is to respond to any request he makes, do so quickly, do so cooperatively, pay money back, so that we can clear up the system once and for all………I think it’s important now to move on, so we can look the voters in the eye, at the general election and say, ‘we’ve paid all the money back that we’ve been asked to pay back’ – rightly or wrongly – ‘we now have a system which is beyond reproach, put us back into parliament, so that we can do the job which we’re supposed to do, which is represent you rather than be embroiled, yet again, in arguments about our expenses.”

I agree with his view entirely and in the interest of democracy and the future of Parliament I ask local political activists of all parties, but particularly the Liberal Democrats in Dorset, to take note of his words and to get on with debating the real political issues and addressing the severe problems that face our country today.

I want now to get on with the job I was elected to do representing the people of North Dorset.