Puzzled, too (From Penarth Times)

Puzzled, too

9:30am Thursday 2nd July 2009

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I HAVE always considered Alun Michael an honest man, and a hard-working (if uninspiring) MP.

However, it would appear he has been very ready to take full advantage of the lax House of Commons expenses system.

In a statement some weeks ago in the Penarth Times, he said that while a minister it was necessary for him to designate his main home as London (Penarth Times, June 4).

Now that all expenses have been revealed, we see that about half of current ministers have their second homes in London. Some mistake, surely?

Also, in last week’s Penarth Times (June 25) he claimed to be ‘puzzled’ when confronted with the fact that his mortgage interest claims on his Penarth ‘second home’ increased in April 2007 from the previous month’s £732.75 to £1262.78.

This cannot be because he ‘flipped’ homes and claimed on his Whitehall flat – he has already told us that this did not happen until the beginning of 2009.

Neither has he underclaimed his mortgage interest, as he states "may have happened". His claims, and the interest statement by his mortgagors in previous years, which can be seen as part of his expenses claim, show quite clearly that, subject to minor interest changes, the sum has remained constant at around £730 a month since 2004.

So why an extra £500+ claim, equivalent to an additional interest-only mortgage of at least £100,000 over a 25-year period?

Perhaps he re-mortgaged his house and now claims the extra interest at tax-payers’ expense??

I am sure if this is not so, Mr Michael will supply a rational explanation for this intriguing change.

Alwyn Evans Via Email

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