ST ALBANS MP Anne Main is facing a storm of outrage for claiming thousands in taxpayer cash for her second home in St Albans and claiming a council tax discount even though her daughter is living there.

The Tory member, who has claimed mortgage interest on her flat since November 2006, has not responded to repeated calls from the Review since Friday, when it was revealed that she had claimed a ten per cent council tax discount on her home while her daughter Claire Tonks has lived there.

Mrs Main's expenses have since featured prominently on television news and in the Sunday press.

Roma Mills, Labour parliamentary canidate said: “It seems she has been playing the system to the nth degree.

“What annoys me is that so many people in St Albans are struggling to find a first home.

“They find it hard to imagine having the luxury of a second home let alone one funded by the taxpayer.”

Ms Tonks, 27, is listed at the Pageant Road address on the Electoral Role, and , in 2008, registered it with Companies House when she became a director of Kids Industries.

The ten per cent discount applies to any home that is not a person's main home but Sandy Walkington, St Albans Lib Dem parliamentary candidate, said: “My understanding is that you shouldn't claim the discount if somebody is living in the home full time.

“I don't understand it and I hope the district council investigates it thoroughly.

“If she needs to stay overnight in St Albans why doesn't she just get a hotel?

“And if she wants somewhere to go back to after a later Westminster sitting she can always go to her main home in Beaconsfield.”

Mrs Main, who has always been open that her daughter lives in the flat, told the Review after it highlighted the issue last week that she would soon be moving to London.