Tory MP Mark Francois agrees to return £200 in expenses (From Echo)

Tory MP Mark Francois agrees to return £200 in expenses

5:30pm Friday 26th June 2009 in

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RAYLEIGH MP Mark Francois has been told to pay back £200 he claimed on expenses.

Mr Francois is one of several Tory MPs who will pay back a total of £125,000 in Commons expenses announ-ced by party leader David Cameron yesterday.

The sum paid back by Mr Francois is listed as “household expenses” and is among the latest round of repayments made by MPs following the furore surrounding the expenses scandal of recent weeks.

Mr Francois said: “I have submitted my expenses to the Conservative Party’s Scrutiny Committee and they have been through them. Following this process I have agreed to repay £200 to the Commons authorities.

“This covers minor household items, such as toothbrushes, mouthwash and toothpaste.

“It also encompasses some household cleaning products, such as bathroom cleaner and cleaning spray, which I should probably have put down under the ‘cleaning’ heading of the claim form rather than as food, but which I have repaid anyway in order to account for this.

“If I have upset anybody with any of this then I do sincerely apologise.

“I hope my constituents will feel none of this has been especially excessive, but at least I can now say that I have paid the money for these items back.”