Exmouth MPto reveal expenses claims

EAST Devon MP Hugo Swire has supported Prime Minister Gordon Brown s plans for a clean-up of all public institutions following the MPs expenses allegations. Mr Brown said last Sunday that like MPs, he wanted staff who worked for institutions such as th

EAST Devon MP Hugo Swire has supported Prime Minister Gordon Brown's plans for a 'clean-up' of all public institutions following the MPs' expenses allegations.

Mr Brown said last Sunday that like MPs, he wanted staff who worked for institutions such as the NHS and BBC, to also be subject to the same scrutiny.

Mr Swire explained: "What's good for the goose is good for the gander is the feeling.

"If you are going to have people who are paid from the public purse with their details exposed then there's an argument for saying everyone who receives public money should be under the same rules."

Mr Swire will talk in detail to the Exmouth Journal this week about his expenses.

"It is the most transparent thing I can do. It is my attempt to be as open as I can about it really," he explained, ahead of his meeting with Journal reporters.

Details of Conservative MPs' expenses revealed last month as part of a national media title's investigation into the subject showed Mr Swire had claimed �22,802 for his second home allowance.

The figure was �281 short of the maximum �23,083 threshold permitted in the 2007 and 2008 parliament year.

To date he has failed to show how much he pays his wife, who works as his assistant, out of the �88,271 staffing allowance he claimed last year. In total he claimed �151,616 in expenses.

Mr Swire has said he has not broken any rules and if he had been judged to be wrong, he would pay back any sum demanded.

Prime minister Gordon Brown said he was shocked and appalled by the expenses allegations which have been uncovered.

He has called for MPs to agree to a legally binding code of conducts to 'clean' up parliament.