Alan Beith writes:

Like many people, I am angry at the way some Members of Parliament have abused the allowances system, and about the fact that it was a lax and inadequately controlled system. I have always voted to reform it, and supported bringing it out into the open through the Freedom of Information Act. Publication has revealed a wide range of things including claims which appear to be fraud, claims which should have been turned down, claims which actually were turned down, and claims which were reasonable as a way of providing furnished accommodation necessary for the job, but which have been presented misleadingly.

My own position is that I have always rented my London flat, and I believe it was a mistake to allow and encourage MPs to buy London homes and claim mortgage interest on them. However, if you represent a constituency like Berwick, over 300 miles from London, the job cannot be done without having accommodation in London as well as a constituency home, and only wealthy MPs could afford to do this if no help was provided.

My wife Diana sits in the House of Lords, where she is known as Baroness Maddock, and there is no salary at all for the work she does there. She can claim an attendance allowance and an overnight allowance, and we share the costs of our London flat, each of us contributing and claiming for part of the costs from our allowances, while taking care to make sure we never "double claim". So, for example, when the 1960's kitchen had to be refurbished, we shared the cost and each claimed for what we had individually paid for. My wife normally claims only half of her allowance, and in most years my claims are a long way below the total allowed. We chose to stay in and improve an unmodernised flat at a lower rent than move to a modernised flat because we thought it was better value for the taxpayer. We turned down an offer of £48,000 from the landlords of our London flat which was offered as an incentive to move to a more expensive property.

Liberal Democrats are committed to accepting and carrying out whatever reform the Committee on Standards in Public Life recommends.

Alan Beith MP's Parliamentary Expenses for the quarter ended 30 September 2009.

Alan Beith MP's Parliamentary Expenses for the quarter ended 30 June 2009.

Alan Beith MP's Parliamentary Expenses for the year ended 31 March 2009.

Alan Beith MP's Parliamentary Expenses, 2001 - 2008.

Daily Telegraph Q&A.

I was pleased to get a belated apology from the Daily Telegraph after they made serious errors in their reporting over the amount I had claimed for the Additional Costs Allowance, but would have preferred it if they had reported accurately in the first place. In November 2009 I received a further apology from the Daily Telegraph after they reprinted this erroneous information.

Letter of apology from the Daily Telegraph.

Second letter of apology from the Daily Telegraph, November 2009.