Anne Main to face formal inquiry (From St Albans & Harpenden Review)

Anne Main to face formal inquiry

11:10am Friday 26th June 2009 in

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A COMPLAINT from a St Albans constituent has led to MP Anne Main being investigated for her expenses claims.

The Review published full details of her claims before any other newspaper on May 20.

She now faces a full Parliamentary inquiry after it was claimed that she spent thousands of pounds of taxpayers' money on a flat in which her daughter has lived rent-free.

A letter of complaint has been received by John Lyon, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards.

In our initial article, we revealed that Mrs Main spent £4,000 furnishing her flat in St Albans.

Mrs Main, whose home is 24 miles away in Beaconsfield, Bucks, has claimed on the St Albans flat, where her daughter Claire Tonks lives, since she won the seat in May 2005.

It also alleged that Mrs Main has claimed a ten per cent second home discount on her council tax for the apartment in her constituency, even though 27-year-old Ms Tonks has lived there for up to three years.

This discount can only be claimed if no one lives at the property full-time.

She has claimed a ten per cent discount on council tax since 2004 — amounting to £171.09 last year — and submitted the bill on her expenses.

At the time Mrs Main told the Review that her daughter pays no rent but claimed she stays there only “two or three times a week”.

She bought the flat in Samuel Square, Pageant Road, for £249,000 in November 2006 and has subsequently claimed mortgage interest of between £600- £1,100 every month.

Several neighbours also said that they had never met Mrs Main before the expenses revelations although they were friendly with Miss Tonks, a public relations executive.

Miss Tonks' name also appears on the electoral roll at the flat, and she gave the address when registering her PR firm with Companies House.

Last year, Mrs Main claimed £22,091 in second home expenses, close to the maximum allowed under the ACA.

A spokesman for Mr Lyon has now confirmed that the complaint has been "accepted" and that he would be launching a formal inquiry.