EPPING Forest MP Eleanor Laing has launched a blistering attack on Labour MP Claire Curtis-Thomas after her name was mistakenly added to a letter claiming that expenses reforms would put women parliamentarians at risk of sexual assault.

The letter, published in the Times newspaper yesterday, claimed that the proposal to abolish second homes allowances for MPs who live within a commutable distance from Westminster would force many women MPs to travel long distances home late at night and put them at risk.

Mrs Laing's name was one of several women MPs who had apparently signed the letter, a claim repeated by dozens of media outlets, but today she told the Guardian that its author, Ms Curtis-Thomas, had made a mistake.

She said: “I'm furious. I was asked if I wanted to sign the letter and I declined.

“It's my duty to be concerned about the safety of everyone, particularly women, travelling home late at night and I refused to sign that letter because it's quite wrong to suggest that MPs be treated more favourably than anybody else.

“My concern is for the safety of all my constituents.”

Mrs Laing, who lives less than an hour's journey from Parliament, has claimed for a second home in the past, but said she did so because “those were the rules at the time.”

She said: “The proposals would change that and I entirely accept that. I think that these things should not be decided by MPs.

“And I must point out that I have claimed nothing for well over a year.”

In a return letter to Mrs Laing, Ms Curtis-Thomas said: “Please accept my sincere apologies for this mistake. I passed the letter down the benches at Prime Minister's Questions last Wednesday.

“Clearly there has been an error here.”

Mrs Laing has been criticised in the past for legally avoiding £180,000 in capital gains tax by nominating her second home as her main home to the Inland Revenue when she came to sell it.

But she says she has been “vindicated” by a parliamentary probe which said she should not repay any expenses claims.

She recently paid back £25,000 to the taxpayer as a “moral gesture.”