Expenses inquiry team apologises to minister

An MP has received a formal apology from Sir Thomas Legg's expenses inquiry after officials on the investigating team admitted they mistakenly accused him of still owing £257.92. Huw Irranca-Davies, the Labour MP for Ogmore and the minister for natural environment, was labelled a "refusenik" after the Legg report, published this month, said he had yet to repay the money. But after he made representations to the inquiry team pointing out that he repaid everything he was told he owed, Legg's team issued an apology, saying they "double-counted" one claim for the same amount, meaning an outstanding balance showed up. Legg's report last month concluded that 392 former and current MPs should repay expenses claimed under the now discredited system. But the report and the inquiry behind it received intense criticism from MPs, some disgruntled about payments they were told to make. More than half of the 80 MPs who lodged appeals against his verdict were successful. Irranca-Davies, who had already repaid £1,750.27 of overpayments for mortgage interest, said: "I was called a refusenik when I had clearly paid it all off. I was annoyed because I have been hugely supportive of the Legg process, set up to identify errors accurately – accurately being the important word. To find mistakes were made again after the fees office and MPs – myself included – had acted wrongly was disappointing." The letter to Irranca-Davies said: "I am sorry that you were given incorrect advice by a member of the review team."