MPs' expenses: Notts MP asked to make over £1,000 in repayments

RETFORD and Newark MP Patrick Mercer is to return almost £1,100 of taxpayers' money after an expense claim was overpaid.

The announcement, following today's Legg Report, revealed Mr Mercer had been overpaid by £1,099.51 on mortgage interest between 2008 and 2009.

Last year he repaid £2,273.06 after he had been paid twice for mortgage repayments in 2004.

Speaking from hospital, Mr Mercer said changes in the way MPs have been asked to file expense forms had led to duplicate claims.

"I have absolutely no dispute with the fact that this money has to be repaid and as soon as I'm out of hospital, I will be returning it," he said.

"It's happened two or three times now, depending on how you read it.

"In 2004, the system for claiming mortgage repayments changed and I sent a claim for repayments twice.

"Since Sir Legg brought that to my attention, I immediately repaid it.

"Then, in 2009 the system changed again, we were not quick enough to catch it and claimed again."

He joins nearly 400 other MPs repaying a total of £1.1m following today's report of the expenses audit by Sir Robert Legg.

Bassetlaw MP John Mann and Sherwood MP Paddy Tipping both have 'no issues' relating to their expenses in the report.

Don Valley MP Caroline Flint has not been asked to make repayments, after previously repaying £734.15 for expenses claims for 'tree services' and a washing machine.

For more information, and a further response from MPs, see next Thursday's Retford Times.