Communities Secretary Hazel Blears is facing pressure after confirming she did not pay capital gains tax on profit from the sale of a London flat.
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The property was registered as her main residence with the Inland Revenue, while at the same time she claimed MPs' second home expenses on the same flat.
Ms Blears said she had complied with Commons and tax rules.
The Sunday Telegraph also reports second home claims by Sinn Fein MPs, who do not take their Commons seats.
Speaking outside her house in Salford on Sunday she said: " I understand entirely why the public hates this.
"The system is wrong, it needs to be changed."
She said she would favour getting a "group of ordinary people" together with the independent body, to work out a fair system to which that all MPs would have to adhere.
"We've got to get it sorted out as quickly as possible," she added.
Sunday Telegraph
Ms Blears sold her south London flat in August 2004, making a £45,000 profit, when it would have been registered with tax authorities as her main residence.
But four months earlier, she had declared to Commons authorities that the same flat was her second home, and started claiming expenses of £850 a month for the mortgage.
A spokesman for Ms Blears earlier said: "Hazel has complied with the rules of the House authorities and [HM Revenue & Customs]. No liability for capital gains tax arose on the sale of her flat in Kennington."
Capital gains tax is charged at 40% on profit from the sale of a properties not regarded by the taxman as a main residence.
A spokeswoman said HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) could not comment on individual taxpayers' affairs.
Sinn Fein claims
The Sunday Telegraph reports that five Sinn Fein MPs have claimed a total of almost £500,000 in second home expenses - despite the party not taking up its Commons seats.
A Sinn Fein spokesman denied that the MPs, including president Gerry Adams and Northern Ireland deputy first minister Martin McGuinness, had done anything wrong.
"It is widely known that Sinn Fein MPs travel regularly to London on parliamentary business and utilise the accommodation that we rent when there," he said.
"We do not purchase properties at public expense and therefore do not profit from the expenses claimed as of right."
The Telegraph has published details of expenses claims by the prime minister, government ministers, other Labour MPs and a prominent Conservative MP in recent days.
Further reports about MPs from other parties are expected in coming days.
'No impropriety'
Work and pensions minister Kitty Ussher received more than £22,000 over a 12-month period towards improvements to her home, the paper reported.
A spokesman said the claims hade been in line with Commons rules and approved by the fees office.
"[Ms Ussher] fully supports the committee on standards in public life's review into creating a better system for MPs' expenses that the prime minister has asked for, and believes it is right that MPs' expenses claims should be published," he said.
The Sunday Telegraph has clarified an earlier report about a £6,577 claim made by Gordon Brown to reimburse his brother for payments to a cleaner that the men shared.
A leader article said: "There are those MPs who, despite their good intentions, have none the less fallen victim to an overly complex expenses system that has served to portray their actions in an unflattering light.
"For example, the receipts submitted by Gordon Brown for the cost of a cleaner, shared with his brother Andrew, fall into such a category.
"There has never been any suggestion of any impropriety on the part of the prime minister or his brother."
Sir Alistair Graham, ex-chairman, committee for standards in public life
Full details of all MPs' expenses dating back four years, running to 2.4 million receipts, were due to be published in the middle of July after the Commons authorities lost a Freedom of Information battle.
But the Telegraph is revealing the information early.
The Commons authorities have complained to the Metropolitan Police, who confirmed they were considering a request for an investigation into the leak to the paper.
Former chairman of the committee for standards in public life, Sir Alistair Graham, said the expenses system had to be decided in the public and taxpayers' interest, by an independent outside body.
"It is depressing to keep hearing [MPs] saying, 'Well, it's the system that was wrong and we are changing the system.'
"The question you have to ask is who devised the system? MPs devised the system under their self-regulating arrangements and that's what must change for the future."
Former sports minister Kate Hoey said that if MPs were found to have "changed homes deliberately in order to be able to capitalise on selling a flat and then moving on and getting another one, I hope that their consciences would say that they maybe should pay money back".
An ICM poll of 508 adults for the News of the World found that more than two-thirds of respondents said they believed the expenses revelations had damaged the prime minister.
Some 89% believed the reputation of Parliament had been tarnished, and 91% said they wanted expenses records to be published in full straight away.
Labour's poll ratings have slumped to just 23% - lower than when Michael Foot was party leader in the 1980s - according to a survey of 2,246 people by BPIX for the Mail on Sunday.
A YouGov poll of 2,209 voters for the Sunday Times suggested Labour's support had dropped by seven percentage points to 27% - 16 points behind the Conservatives.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/uk/8042261.stm
Published: 2009/05/10 08:46:26 GMT
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