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| Yorkshire to the fore in shadow cabinet More than half Ed Miliband's lineup come from Yorkshire – 'God's own county' to many of those who live thereThe Yorkshire mafia's presence in top level politics just got an 'eck of a boost with the announcement of Ed Miliband's shadow cabinet.The Labour leader's lineup more than matches the Cameron-Clegg cabinet as the most Yorkshire, with eight out of the 14 senior posts going to those proud to wear the white rose of what some call "God's own county".Miliband's own South Yorkshire seat neighbours that of Caroline Flint's Don Valley constituency. East Yorkshire is amply represented by Alan Johnson in Hull, and the Eagle twins Maria and Angela were both born in Bridlington.Husband-and-wife team Ed Balls, with his Morley seat, and Yvette Cooper, in nearby Pontefract, join John Healey, who was born in Wakefield, in championing West Yorkshire. The other shadow cabinet members with Yorkshire constituencies are Hilary Benn (Leeds Central), Mary Creagh (Wakefield) Rosie Winterton (Doncaster) and Jon Trickett (Hemsworth).In the coalition camp Nick Clegg is MP for Sheffield Hallam. But despite Lady Warsi and Eric Pickles, born in Dewsbury and Keighley respectively, William Hague's impeccable credentials and Vince Cable's York birthplace, they seem to be trailing in the flat-vowelled stakes.LabourCaroline Daviesguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Man jailed for girl sex attacks A man who admitted kidnapping three children and sexually assaulting two of them at a hideaway is given an indeterminate jail term. bbc.co.uk |
MPs' expenses: Andrew MacKay told to apologise after claiming wife's second home was his main property Ex-MP Andrew MacKay claimed expenses for London home while wife Julie Kirkbride claimed for property in Bromsgrove, meaning they did not have a main home funded out of their own pocketsA former close aide to David Cameron was today called upon to apologise by an influential parliamentary committee after in effect claiming for both his homes on parliamentary expenses.Andrew MacKay, the former Tory MP for Bracknell who stood down before the general election, made a "serious misjudgment" in claiming allowances over a 12-year period that meant the taxpayer was in effect funding two properties where he lived with wife Julie Kirkbride, the former Conservative MP for Bromsgrove, when they were MPs, a report by the cross-party Commons standards and privileges committee said today.The committee said the former MP, who was one of the politicians ordered to make the highest expenses repayments following an audit by Sir Thomas Legg in 2009, had already paid a "high political price" by having had to stand down as an MP, but said a written letter of apology was in order.The committee issued its verdict following an investigation conducted by the parliamentary commissioner for standards, John Lyon. This followed a complaint lodged last year about the two former MPs, who became known as the "expenses couple".Lyon's findings, an appendix to the committee's report, concluded that MacKay was in breach of the rules by wrongly designating the Bromsgrove property in his wife's constituency as his main home from 1997-2009. He then claimed more than £1,000 a month for mortgage interest payments on their flat near Westminster.At the same time, Kirkbride used her allowances to receive more than £900 a month towards the loan on the Bromsgrove house.The arrangement meant the couple did not have a main home that they funded out of their own pockets.MacKay was a Commons aide to Cameron and a member of the Tory leader's inner circle until he resigned in May last year when the so-called expenses "double dipping" emerged.Legg concluded that rather than both claiming near to the maximum of the accommodation allowance on separate properties, it would have been "reasonable" for them to have each claimed two-thirds of the full allowance on a shared second home.In his report, Lyon dismissed MacKay's claim that he was acting on advice from the then-head of the fees office, insisting that MPs had "personal responsibility" with regard to their allowances. The standards commissioner said MacKay's decision not to review his actions until they came to light in 2009 was "unwise" and said he regretted that MacKay had at no stage accepted what Lyon judged to be a serious misjudgment.Regarding Kirkbride, Lyon concluded that she was within the expenses rules in place at the time.Despite appealing last year against Legg's ruling that their claims were unreasonable, the couple were forced to repay nearly £60,000 between them.Considering Lyon's findings, the committee concluded: "The very fact that Mr Mackay is no longer a member of parliament shows what a heavy political price he has paid. He has also repaid a considerable sum of money."Nonetheless, we expect Mr Mackay, having read our report, to apologise for the breach in writing. Had Mr Mackay still been a member of this house, we would have recommended that he apologise on the floor of the house by means of a personal statement and we would have recommended a period of suspension from the service of the house."The pair sought to avoid repayment last year by appealing to Sir Paul Kennedy, the former judge who dealt with MPs' appeals against demands for repayments after the expenses scandal. MacKay had his appeal dismissed altogether, while Kirkbride had her repayment reduced by £2,584 in relation to an increase in her mortgage, which she said was to construct an extra bedroom so that her brother could provide childcare.But, in relation to the larger sum appealed against, £29,200, Kennedy told both Kirkbride and MacKay that her designation of her husband's second home as her main home, while he did vice versa, was unacceptable, and that the allowance was "never intended" to relieve members of the cost of their main home.The MPs' report said today: "We conclude that Mr Andrew MacKay breached the rules relating to second home allowances by wrongly designating his home in Bromsgrove as his main home for ACA purposes and because his claims against ACA for his London home were not beyond reproach. In our view, it should have been obvious to Mr MacKay that the arrangement whereby he and Ms Kirkbride each designated the other's second home as their main home, allowing both to be funded from parliamentary allowances, was fundamentally wrong."It went beyond the purpose of the rules, which was to reimburse members for the additional cost of maintaining a second home for parliamentary purposes. The flaws in the arrangement should have been no less obvious to the Department of Resources and its predecessors, who should not have allowed it. But although this failure on the part of the house authorities may help to explain why Mr Mackay made and never corrected a serious misjudgment, the responsibility remains with him."They added: "We are very disappointed that, even after seeing the commissioner's full report, Mr Mackay maintains that he did not break the rules, when it is quite clear that he did."Kirkbride today welcomed Lyon's findings. "I am delighted that the parliamentary standards commissioner has cleared my name and found me not guilty of abusing my expenses," she said.Also today, three peers received the toughest sanction imposed on members of the House of Lords for more than 300 years after wrongly claiming thousands of pounds in expenses.Labour peers Lady Uddin and Lord Paul, and crossbencher Lord Bhatia, were all suspended. Uddin was told to repay £125,349.10, while Bhatia has already repaid more than £27,000 and Paul has already returned £41,982.MPs' expensesHouse of CommonsHélène Mulhollandguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Liverpool's Blitz remembered People in Liverpool are marking the seventieth anniversary of Liverpool's worst loss of life in the Blitz. bbc.co.uk |
This Sceptered Isle Some stimulus packages are intangible. A royal wedding gives Britain a lift in its Age of Austerity. nytimes.com |