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Published:
June 27, 2009
Burnham-On-Sea
MP to repay further £5,000 of expense claims
Burnham-On-Sea's
MP is to repay a further £5,000 of expense claims after
further details of his claims were published on the Parliamentary
website.
David
Heathcoat-Amory will repay the money after making a series of
claims for gardening costs.
He
has already paid back £388 for horse manure, but the Conservative
Party said on Friday (June 26th) he would pay back more to cover
gardening bills, which included £6 for the use of a chainsaw
and £2 for mouse poison.
Mr
Heathcoat Amory claimed a total of £136,839 for 2007-08,
of which £20,930 was his second home allowance. He owns
both of his homes outright.
His
expenses also included claims for gardening services of more than
£10,000 over four years, and quarterly cleaning bills of
up to £700.
However,
Mr Heatcoat-Amory's expenses were within the rules and his overall
expense claim remains the lowest of any Somerset MP.
The
Daily Telegraph reported last
month that Mr Heathcoat-Amory had filed
19 expense receipts worth £388.80 for fertiliser between
2004-07. He
also claimed £6 for the use of a chainsaw, £2 for
mouse poison, £1.95 for sunflower seeds, £15 for moving
rubbish and £5 for a wheelbarrow puncture.
Furthermore,
Mr Heathcoat-Amory also submitted a £986.17 bill for heating
oil in January 2008. Weed
treatments, moss killer and herbicide at his home reportedly cost
the taxpayer more than £50 in 2006, and there was also a
£30 claim for hedge trimming in 2007.
Highbridge
Lib Dem councillor Joe Leach recently called on the MP to step
down over the expense claims.
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