EMBATTLED MP Eleanor Laing has said she always acted in order with her expenses and sees no need to hold a public meeting with her constituents.
Epping Forest MP Mrs Laing has been under pressure from her constituents ever since the Telegraph revealed earlier this months she had avoided a £180,000 capital gains tax bill by telling the tax office her secondary home in London was her primary residence.
But Mrs Laing told The Guardian she had done nothing wrong and had the full backing of Epping Forest Conservative Association.
She said: “I’ve met the management of Epping Forest Conservative Association and I’m meeting the executive. They are very supportive of me. I don’t think there’s any need for a public meeting. I’m always happy to meet people who want to see me and talk about this.
“I’ve been very upset by some of the things that have been said about me, but I’ve also been touched by all the supportive comments I have received.”
Details of Mrs Laing’s expenses published online for the first time show she pays Epping Forest Conservative Association around £9,500 a year for “rent and office services” at Thatcher house, in Meadow Road, Loughton.
House of Commons guidelines issued in the Green Book state: “Claims cannot relate to party political activity of any sort, nor must any claim provide a benefit to a party political organisation”, but Mrs Laing denied she had broken any rules.
She said: “They possibly are benefitting for my being here. Before I paid any money to the Conservative Association the contract details had to be approved. I asked the House of commons to be absolutely certain I was making these payments correctly and they approved the contract. It’s very common. About 90 per cent of MPs do it.”
Mrs Laing’s rent for her Thatcher House office rose sharply from £1,950 in April 2005 to £3,550 in October 2005.
She said: “I think that’s the point where we got a proper evaluation. I had been paying well below the market rate, then when we properly examined it I had to pay a bit more. That’s all about being fair.”
Among other expenses claimed by Mrs Laing over the past four years in November 2007 she asked to be reimbursed £500 for two days of filing work.
She said: “It was my house of Commons office I had a backlog of work to be done and my secretary had been working extremely hard. I think there might have been a couple of ladies there for two days. If that’s how much it cost it would have been the market rate.”
Despite the recent criticisms faced by Mrs Laing she said she was confident she would continue as MP into 2010 and beyond.
She said: “It’s been a horrible time but most people just want me to carry on in my job as an MP. All I have done was in order.”
She added that the £25,000 she had pledged to pay back to the fees office would be repaid “within months”.
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