Below is an excerpt from Today’s Derby Evening Telegraph. I can’t believe this is still going on and I can’t believe that Mrs Beckett has yet to learn anything about the importance of transparency.
No doubt she thinks it’s none of our business how she spends our money!!
POLITICAL opponents have piled the pressure on Derby MP Margaret Beckett to reveal if she has been asked to repay any expenses she claimed.
All MPs have received a letter from investigator Sir Thomas Legg telling them whether he thinks they should repay money for excessive or illegitimate claims.
MPs are under no obligation to disclose the contents of their letters, but many have decided to reveal what the former civil servant has asked them to do.
While Mrs Beckett confirmed she had received a letter from Sir Thomas, the Derby South MP has staunchly refused to disclose whether she is being asked to repay any money.
The Tory candidate who will fight her seat at the next election, Jack Pershcke, said: “It’s typical of her approach to public office.
“For me the fact that she is hiding it is probably more of an affront to her voters than any of the conclusions that Sir Thomas could have reached in her letter.”
Meanwhile, the Lib Dem candidate for her seat, David Batey, who sits on Derby City Council, said: “The expenses issue has totally destroyed trust in politicians, right down to council level – and not being open and hiding behind the rules doesn’t help.
“Margaret Beckett has been an MP for a long time and she should know better.”
Only one other county MP, Labour’s member for High Peak Tom Levitt, has refused to reveal the contents of his letter.
The full article is here: http://www.thisisderbyshire.co.uk/news/Beckett-s-rivals-urge-come-clean-expenses/article-1420853-detail/article.html
