If you want proof of disagreement between Legg and Kennedy here it is. I won’t go into the details of Peter Lilley’s mortgage claims – too complex. But Kennedy has struck off the entire £41k claim, saying:
“I am at a loss to understand why the review should state that what you did was not permitted under the ACA.”
Meanwhile Anne Cryer saw her £18,241 demand reduced on appeal to £1,596.
Sir Paul Kennedy says of Cryer, who rented a flat from her son-in-law. “In 2004-5 you had no reason to believe that you could not recover rent paid to a relative…I entirely accept all of that.”
William Cash had been ordered to repay £15,269. That has been reduced to a mere £429 by Sir Paul Kennedy. Cash had paid rent to his daughter from April 2004 to April 2005.
“It was only in the July 2006 revised edition of the Green Book – published more than a year after you made your claim – that there appears for the frist time..anything to indicate that rent paid to a relative would not be recoverable.”
Colin Challen had rented a room from his own researcher. Legg asked for the repayment of £9,158. It was reduced on appeal to £363.
Sir Paul Kennedy rejected Challen’s argument that a researcher did not fall into the category of close business associate, partner or family member (from whom an MP could not lease accommodation). But he said.
“The arrangement which you made was disclosed to and accepted by the Fees Office as a temporary arrangement…any alternative arrangement would almost certainly have resulted in a larger legitimate claim against public funds.”
Jim Pickard
Kiran Stacey