Britain’s gay treasury chief secretary David Laws, who is supposed to rescue the government’s finances, has used taxpayers’ money to pay more than £40,000 to his long-term partner, media reports said on Saturday.
Mr Laws claimed up to £950 a month for eight years to rent rooms in two properties owned by his partner. The claims could be against parliamentary rules governing MPs’ second home expenses.
Mr Laws has apologised and said he would “immediately” pay back tens of thousands of pounds claimed for rent and other housing costs between 2006 and 2009.
He also referred himself to the parliamentary standards commissioner.
“I regret this situation deeply, accept that I should not have claimed my expenses in this way and apologise fully,” said Mr Laws. Mr Laws will have a lot of explaining to do regarding his own lack of parsimony after being responsible for framing new rules on legislator expenses.
According to the Daily Telegraph, Mr Laws controversial claims were not uncovered by an official inquiry into MPs expenses in 2009 because he did not admit that his landlord was also his long-standing lover.
The disclosure is the first big setback for the Coalition. Mr Laws, a Liberal Democrat, has the task of implementing public sector cuts of more than £6 billion.
—PTI