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United Kingdom Prime Minister Gordon Brown - Source: Reuters -
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British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was engulfed in a fresh expenses row as an independent reviewer ask him and others lawmakers to repay thousands of pounds of excessive claims.
Brown said he would himself repay more than 12,000 pounds of claims for cleaning and gardening after retired senior civil servant Thomas Legg concluded he had exceeded maximum annual limits over the past five years.
Legg wrote to lawmakers after spending months scrutinising claims in the wake of an expenses scandal this year that damaged all the major parties and shook public faith in parliament.
Brown and opposition Conservative leader David Cameron have both attacked abuse of the system and have proposed reforms to clean up parliament.
Stamping out sleaze will be a key issue in an election due by next June that the Conservatives are tipped to win.
As legislators returned from their long summer break, former Home Secretary (interior minister) Jacqui Smith apologised to colleagues for breaching rules on second home allowances.
The expenses furore spread to the unelected upper chamber of parliament, the House of Lords, where authorities said deputy speaker Swraj Paul would temporarily step aside while an investigation was conducted into media allegations about his claims for an overnight subsistence allowance.
Paul denies wrongdoing.
Anger
Cameron said he had been asked for more details about a house mortgage payment but had not been asked to repay any money. Nick Clegg, leader of the second largest opposition party, the Liberal Democrats, said he had repaid 910 pounds of gardening claims as requested by Legg.
Many other members of parliament were expected to be asked to repay money.
Many lawmakers were angry that Legg had retrospectively changed rules on allowable expenses, including imposing a maximum 2,000 pounds a year for cleaning costs.
Lawmakers have three weeks to consider their response to the demands for repayments, with media reports saying some were considering taking legal action over the bills.
Brown wrote to his ministers urging them to respond promptly to any requests for further information from Legg and to make "appropriate repayments" when the process was complete.
"The past system of expenses has comprehensively failed and we have taken action to completely replace it," he wrote.
Brown will repay a total of 12,415 pounds, made up of 10,716 pounds of excess cleaning bills, 302 pounds of gardening bills plus 1,396 pounds for decorating inadvertently claimed twice.
News earlier this year that members of parliament had claimed thousands of pounds of taxpayers' money to clean moats and swimming pools at their houses outraged voters who have had to tighten their belts during a severe recession.
Dozens of members of parliament hit by the fallout from the scandal have said they will step down at the next election.
