Westminster: Four MPs are to pay back cash. Pic: © STV
An Edinburgh MP was today ordered to pay back cash he received from the Landlord of his taxpayer-funded London home.
Four Liberal Democrat MPs, including Edinburgh West member John Barratt, were told the showed "serious misjudgment" in accepting cash when their building was sold. However, former leader and North East Fife MP, Sir Menzies Campbell, was told no action would be taken against him for a "lesser misjudgment" relating to the same building.
Six Liberal Democrat MPs referred themselves to the House of Commons Standards and Privileges Committee after The Daily Telegraph reported they were among 13 MPs who had received "windfalls" for giving up their rights to cheap rent in Dolphin Square.
The apartment block near Westminster had previously been run by a non-profit organisation, but its sale to a private firm meant tenants' rents increased. Thirteen MPs were said to have accepted financial windfalls in exchange for waiving their low rent privileges but then passing the higher rents on to the taxpayer.
Mr Barrett was ordered to pay back half the £11,234 he received from Dolphin Square's new owners, minus any capital gains tax he had paid.
His Lib Dem colleagues, MPs Sandra Gidley, Paul Holmes and Richard Younger-Ross were also ordered to pay back half of the sums the had received. However, Sir Menzies Campbell and Sir Alan Beith were ruled to have committed less important misdemeanours and would not face any further action.
In its report, the committee said that the public purse should not have lost out as a result of MPs accepting offers from Dolphin Square.
"We consider that Members should have sought official advice at the time the offers were made and we are surprised that none of the six who referred themselves did so," it said.
"If Members had sought advice in writing, they should have been advised to recognise the contribution made from public funds to the position they were in and to have paid a proportion of any windfall payment to the House.
"However, those who kept the payment and achieved a saving to public funds are, in our judgment, in a different position from those who kept it but did not achieve a saving, or who added to public expenditure."
MPs from across the political spectrum have lived at Dolphin Square as a result of its proximity to the Parliament. However, only the Liberal Democrat MPs put themselves forward for scrutiny following the expenses scandal.
Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg praised his colleagues for referring themselves to watchdogs and urged Gordon Brown and David Cameron to order their MPs with second homes in the apartment block to do the same.
Mr Clegg said: "I am very pleased that Liberal Democrat MPs acted promptly and correctly in referring themselves to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards and making clear that they would comply with the recommendations of the committee.
"In stark contrast, nearly a year later, Labour and Conservative MPs who accepted the offer from the Dolphin Square landlord have neither referred themselves nor been referred by their parties.
"If they want to be taken at their word on clearing up the system of expenses and allowances, Gordon Brown and David Cameron must instruct all their MPs who accepted these payments to immediately refer themselves to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards and cooperate fully with him over this matter."
The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, John Lyon, who carried out the investigation for the committee, admitted its ruling could have "significant implications" for other MPs who had flats in Dolphin Square.
He said: "The key point, I believe, is that it was the payments from parliamentary resources, sometimes over many years, which put each member in the position of being offered a sum of money, in effect, to buy out their rights as protected tenants."
"In my judgment, public funds should have benefited from the acceptance of any offer arising from these rental payments. And, in my judgment, public funds should have benefited to the full.
"The effect of members not making over these payments to the House was to put their private interest above their public interest, contrary to the Code of Conduct for Members of Parliament."
