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MP's council tax blunder
HIGH Peak MP Tom Levitt has stopped making claims on his second home to give himself time to "check all his figures" after admitting overclaiming for council tax two years running.
The MP said he repaid the 412 total to the fees office as soon as the mistake, for 2006/7 and 2007/8, was pointed out to him.
He had mistakenly claimed for 12 instalments of council tax on his second home – despite the fact that councils tax is only paid over a ten month period.
In a statement on the issue, he said: "Questions have been raised about MPs' Council Tax bills for our second homes. As soon as it was pointed out to me that I had claimed for 12 months Council Tax payments in 2006-07 and 2007-08, instead of ten, I paid the money back to the Fees Office. This was 200 and 212 respectively. This error did not happen before 2006 and did not happen in 2008-09.
"As of late June 2009, I have made no second homes claims for the financial year 2009-10 at all so far. This is to give me time to double check all my figures for future claims."
His expenses claims have also revealed that Mr Levitt has spent 8,000 of taxpayers' money with a consultancy made up of former Labour election experts.
The Advertiser asked about the bill from Barnard Braggins Partnership, three weeks ago, and was assured it was just for advice on publications and consultation techniques at a time when the new Communications Allowance was coming in.
Now, revelations in The Times have shown that the consultancy is run by Alan Barnard and John Braggins, former senior Labour Party organisers.
Mr Levitt said: "Some of the money paid to them was for printing and stationery, the rest for perfectly proper services."
The Times piece, he said, was not questioning what the money was used for – just simply pointing out that both Barnard and Braggins used to work for the Labour Party.
"Of course, if you are a politician wanting advice on communications, it makes sense to use people with whom you share political sympathies," said Mr Levitt.
Conservative Andrew Bingham said: "It appears that he has been paying a company call Barnard Braggins large sums of money for consultancy.
"I have also noticed (on the MP's published expenses) that Mr Levitt uses a private company for his mail-outs. This does not sit comfortably with his professed support for the Royal Mail and our Post Offices. All our 'High Peak Matters' quarterly publications are delivered by the Royal Mail Door to Door service. All stamps used by High Peak Conservative Association are purchased from Post Offices."
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Weather for Buxton
Wednesday 08 February 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: -3 C to 0 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: South east
Tomorrow
Light sleet
Temperature: 1 C to 2 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: South west
