MP David Chaytor admits £13,000 mortgage error as expenses crisis grows

Patrick Wintour, Saturday, 16th May 2009, The Guardian

A fresh wave of damaging allegations over MPs' lavish expenses lowered Westminster's reputation still further last night when it emerged that another Labour backbencher, David Chaytor, had wrongly claimed £13,000 in mortgage interest payments even though the loan had already been paid off.

Chaytor, the MP for the highly marginal seat of Bury north and a specialist in ­education, last night admitted the error.

He is almost certain to be suspended from the parliamentary Labour party pending inquiries, in common with Elliot Morley, the former environment minister who has been suspended for the same offence. Downing Street said it regarded the claims as a serious matter and that Chaytor will be interviewed by the whips as soon as possible.

Chaytor said last night he had made an unforgiveable error and unreservedly apologised. He said the mistake was caused by stressful changes in his personal circumstances. He added he would immediately repay the money.

Chaytor's admission came as the Daily Telegraph alleged that the deputy leader of the house, Chris Bryant, had flipped his second home twice in a year and claimed £20,000 in expenses.

Bryant said the claims were unfounded and that he had to move house after a series of attacks on his first home, and insisted he had followed the advice of the Commons fees office.

It is not necessarily wrong to flip a second home so long as there is a genuine change in the MP's circumstances, but there is little sign that the fees office saw it as their duty to check to see if there had been such a change.

A third MP, the Tory backbencher Anthony Steen, claimed tens of thousands of pounds for his country mansion, including expenses for looking after 500 trees. The Commons rules allow for the upkeep of gardens, but state the expenses should not extend to luxury items.

It was also disclosed by the Telegraph that the former shadow foreign secretary Sir Gerald Kaufman had charged £1,851 for a rug he imported from a New York antiques centre and tried to claim £8,865 for a television. He also put in a claim for £28,834 – of which £15,329 was paid – for improvements to his London flat, telling officials that he was "living in a slum".

With MPs increasingly realising that some of their specific expenses claims are scorned by the electorate, Richard Younger-Ross, a Liberal Democrat culture spokesman, agreed to repay £4,333, which included claims for a stereo system that cost more than £1,100, and a bookcase called the "Don Juan".

In May 2004 he put in an invoice for a £1,475 chest of drawers and a £725 free-standing mirror bought at John Lewis. They were made from solid cherrywood by the French furniture maker Brigitte Forestier.

But for the Freedom of Information act, MPs would never have been required to itemise what they had spent taxpayers money on. Younger-Ross said he had been given no advice on how much to claim.

The Conservative MP Nadine Dorries was also facing questions over her second home, and whether it had been legitimate to claim it represented a second home.

In the most damaging revelation of the ninth night of expenses stories, the Telegraph established that between September 2005 and August 2006, Chaytor claimed £1,175 a month for mortgage interest on a Westminster flat. However, Land Registry records showed that the mortgage on the flat had already been paid off in January 2004.

"In respect of mortgage interest payments, there has been an unforgivable error in my accounting procedures for which I apologise unreservedly," he said in a statement. "I will act immediately to ensure repayment is made to the fees office."

Since 2004, he has claimed for five different properties, flipping his designated second home between London, Yorkshire and Bury. He claimed for one home where his son was the named occupant on council tax bills.

Victory at Visteon

Visteon workers at Enfield celebrate the offer on Friday morning
by Sadie Robinson, Socialist Worker, 1st May 2009

Visteon workers have won a major victory against one of the biggest and most powerful multinational companies in the world – Ford.

The workers used to be employed by Ford until 2000 and were sacked at the end of last month. Ford tried to avoid its responsibilities, claiming that it owed the workers nothing.

But workers’ action has forced Ford to offer hundreds of thousands of pounds in redundancy packages. Many workers will get £40,000 or more. It is one of the biggest payouts that Ford has ever offered.

Unite union reps are recommending that workers accept the offer. They are due to vote on it later today.

Levent Adnan worked at the Enfield site for over 17 years. “This is a massive result for us,” he told Socialist Worker. “We’ve managed to beat a massive corporation. Ford and Visteon have had their fingers burnt.

“The threat of taking action to Ford was the turning point. This offer sets a new benchmark too – if Ford try to sack workers elsewhere they won’t be able to just do it and give people nothing.

“People can see now that if you put up a strong enough fight you can win. This is a victory for workers and it’s about time we won something.”

Around 600 workers across plants in Enfield, north London, Basildon in Essex and Belfast have been fighting back since the end of March, when they were sacked with no notice, no redundancy pay or pensions.

Workers occupied their plants in protest and held 24-hour pickets outside to stop Visteon or its administrator, KPMG, from removing any equipment. They refused to give in until they got justice – and they have shown that militant action is the best way to get it.

Ford employed the workers until 2000 and many were still on Ford contracts.

When the dispute began, Ford claimed it had no responsibility for the workers.

But the determination of the workers – combined with threats to spread action across Ford that could have cost the company millions – meant that it couldn’t continue with this lie.

Ford was on the defensive and more could have been won. If the national leadership of Unite had mobilised the whole union behind the occupations, it could have got Visteon workers their jobs back.

But the fact that it has been forced to pay up is a fantastic victory that shows the power that workers have when they fight.

Many workers are ecstatic that they have forced Ford to pay up. But they are not complacent.

“I’m not moving from here until we’ve got the money,” said Marcia, on the picket line in Enfield today. “They can’t be trusted. We’ve embarrassed Ford and that’s why they had to come back to the table.”

The struggle has had a lasting impact on the workers.

“The offer has lifted us all,” said Wez Ullah, a Ford worker of 14 years. “We know now that we can fight and win, and we’ll have a more positive attitude in the future.

“The thing that made the difference is threatening to pull out other Ford workers – the only thing companies care about is their profits. I hope this will have an impact on other workers. So many people are going to the wall and it was the norm for them to just accept it.

“But this has opened people’s eyes and shown that you don’t have to accept it."

“We have realised our power now,” added Marcia. “At first when we were sacked, we just went home as we thought we couldn’t do anything. But then you get home and look at your kids and think, how am I going to feed them?

“You realise you have to fight. When we’re in a group we can move mountains.”