Published: Thursday, 25th June, 2009 11:27am

Dunfermline MP reported over office expense claims

by Gary Fitzpatrick

Comments (6) | Print | Email

DUNFERMLINE Lib Dem MP Willie Rennie has accused Labour of 'gutter politics' after being reported to the parliamentary watchdog over his expense claims.

Labour rival Thomas Docherty has submitted a complaint to the Parliamentary Standards" Commissioner saying, 'The allegations made against Willie Rennie are extremely serious and may amount to an abuse of public money.'

Mr Docherty accused the MP of 'scamming the taxpayer' over his office arrangements, after media reports alleged Mr Rennie was using the discredited Westminster expenses system to boost the coffers of the Dunfermline Lib Dems.

Mr Rennie responded, 'Labour have to be very careful over some of the things they"re saying as it"s getting very near the edge.

"I hope they will reflect on their conduct over this, which has been appalling. It really is getting into the gutter of politics.

'Their latest tactic is a vaccuous move because there"s going to be an independent audit of all MPs" expenses and I"m quite relaxed about that.'

Many MPs have now re-paid chunks of their claims following public outcry across the country but Mr Rennie said he saw no need to follow suit and that his rivals were resorting to mud-slinging.

The Dunfermline MP"s total expenses for 2007-08 were £163,202, of which £21,220 was for his second home allowance. This made him the 67th highest claimant out of 645 MPs.

Labour say the alterations to Mr Rennie"s local office arrangements, which saw him become a sub-tenant of the Dunfermline Lib Dem party, cost the taxpayer an additional £18,000 over two years

Mr Rennie paid a Lib Dem-supporting solicitor £3525 in April 2007 for work involving changing the lease of his High Street office.

When he became an MP in 2006, Mr Rennie leased the office from Dunfermline Town Centre Management but the Dunfermline Lib Dems later took over the lease and he became a sub-tenant along with Jim Tolson when he became a MSP in 2007.

The solicitor involved was Mary McIlroy Hipwell, a former Lib Dem council candidate and a donor to the local party.

Mr Rennie said, 'Mary is a qualified solicitor and was paid the going rate for doing a job.

"Everything has been above board and are we going to go down the road of excluding people because they are friends or acquaintances?'

The electoral commission website shows that Mary McIlroy Hipwell made a £2100 cash donation to Dunfermline Lib Dems in August 2007.

Mr Docherty has made a detailed submission to accompany his complaint, having trawled through the heavily redacted expense claims published last week.

He points out that the MP"s initial rent of £1650 and £1699.96 per quarter in 2006 went up to £3000 per quarter from 1st April 2007 and Mr Rennie went on to request that amount be paid to Dunfermline Liberal Democrats for rates, rent and telecoms until further notice.

'It is therefore submitted that Mr Rennie"s complex renegotiation of his lease for the same property was done in order to provide a financial advantage to the local branch of his political party,' wrote Mr Docherty.

He claims that because of the revised arrangements, the Dunfermline Lib Dems made an annual profit of £8917 in 2007 by acting as an agent for the landlord and sub-letting the office.

He further claims that the local party made a profit in excess of £9200 in 2008, meaning that the taxpayer lost out to the tune of more than £18,000 over the two years.

On his office arrangements, Mr Rennie said, 'The system we have used is a recommended one.

"The other way would be for the MP or MSP to rent out parts of the premises and that"s what got Henry McLeish into so much trouble that he had to resign as First Minister.'

Another issue raised by Labour is the purchase of a Risograph high-powered printing machine for more than £2700 and a folding machine coating more than £980, in April 2007, a month ahead of the Scottish parliamentary elections.

Mr Docherty states, 'It is submitted that the purchase of the machines of the eve of a hotly-contested election is suspicious and inadvisable for a Member of Parliament who should be beyond reproach.'

However, Mr Rennie told the Press the equipment was 'a good deal' for the public and was used to highlight campaigns such as that against local post office closures.

'If I wasn"t campaigning on issues like the post office then constituents could quite rightly complain I wasn"t doing my job as the local MP,' he said.

Payments from Mr Rennie"s expenses to the Lib Dems include, in December 2006, £500 for the cost of away days to provide training and support, parliamentary preparation and policy development. In March 2007, he paid the Scottish Liberal Democrats £5000 for parliamentary research services.

On his level of claims generally, Mr Rennie said, 'Having MPs costs money. I"m not a rich man and wouldn"t be able to be a MP if it wasn"t for a system of claims and allowances.

"The alternative would be that you have to be rich to be a MP. However, we have to get the expense system right.

'There was a lot more redacted in the published expenses than we had thought. At the same time my office staff have had to change the bank accounts because of the leak to the Telegraph.'

Mr Docherty told the Press, 'The local Lib Dems must stop scamming the taxpayer like this.

"There"s no problem if an MP rents an office from his party but this extraordinary set-up is designed to boost the coffers of the local Lib Dems.

'His rent for an office in the same building doubled on the very day the Lib Dems became the landlord and the taxpayer paid for lawyers to complete the deal and allow the scame to take place.

'Locals will not understand why the taxpayer should foot such an extravagant bill being paid out of public funds to a political party.'

Tom Minogue, who stood against Mr Rennie in the 2006 by-election as an anti-tolls candidate, has written to the MP asking to see the full, unredacted expense claims.

'Given your statement that you were all for transparency and publishing full details of MPs" expenses, you should have no problem in complying with my request,' he stated.

'I must say, however, that the reported rent costs for your constituency office and the purchase of "Risograph" photo-copier do alarm me and give rise for concern that taxpayers are subsidising the Liberal Democrat Party.'