Three MPs out over expenses

THREE more MPs said yesterday they would not stand at the next election after they became caught up in the expenses scandal.

Conservative MP Julie Kirkbride and Margaret Moran, Labour MP for Luton South, both said they would quit politics after facing “enormous pressure” from “unbearably intense” media scrutiny.

Tory MP Kirkbride faced a showdown with voters after she claimed £1,040 for glamorous photos of herself in a hayfield that have been widely used in the media. She also built an extension with a taxpayer-funded mortgage so that one of her sons could have his own bedroom.

Moran had been under intense pressure to resign after charging the taxpayer £22,500 for treating dry rot in her designated second home in Southampton – 100 miles from her Luton South constituency.

Conservative MP Christopher Fraser, who claimed expenses for 140 cherry trees and 75 red cedars, will be stepping down. He said he wanted to care for his sick wife.

The revelations show no signs of dying down. Last night it was claimed that Conservative MP Bill Cash claimed £15,000 to pay his daughter rent even though he had a home closer to Westminster.