GEORGE Osborne apologised to voters for "gross abuses" among MPs’ expenses claims during an extraordinary grilling by constituents at Wilmslow Library.

The Tatton MP, who was caught up in the scandal himself after claiming £440 for a chauffeur to London, faced a barrage of questions from dozens of angry residents for more than an hour on Friday, May 22, during a one-off meeting about the developing scandal.

One indignant voter, a magistrate, said: "I have just sent someone to prison for four months for theft in a position of trust. Give me some prosecutions against MPs." He had voted Conservative for 40 years but could not again, he said.

Another resident said: "What would you say to troops that have been sent to war without the right equipment? How scary is it that as (shadow) chancellor of the exchequer you keep making decisions that are wrong?"

A third said: "The whole system is utterly corrupt. It is theft. They should be locked up."


"It causes me great anguish that the behaviour of MPs has created such a lack of trust and anger"
George Osbourne

Mr Osborne admitted being shamed by the revelations of Parliamentary expenses claims published in the Daily Telegraph over the past fortnight and said the reputation of MPs was now "low."

"I have been embarrassed by some of the things I have read in the papers," he said. "I have come here today because I wanted to give constituents the first possible opportunity to explain how I thought the system had failed.

"I apologise as an MP and for abuses of the system. All MPs bear responsibility for allowing this system to build up. We have tried to do enormous things with our party in the last few years. We should have gone on to expenses. We should have acted quicker. I promise you we weren’t aware of the grossest expenses."

He said any MPs involved in fraud were being investigated by the police.

Asked if he thought every MP should call a public meeting, he said: "I am not aware of any other MP in Cheshire who is doing this. (But) every MP has to make a judgement about their relationship with their constituents.

"The rules (on expenses) had a line in them that was pretty clear that expenses had to be only in pursuit of your duties and I always had that in my mind."

He had therefore never claimed for gardening or furniture, he said.

"These rules weren’t enforced. It causes me great anguish that the behaviour of MPs has created such a lack of trust and anger. One of the people who feels it most is me, as democracy is my life."

The Telegraph stories had been a good thing as they were forcing MPs to overcome the anger of the public, he said.

One angry voter said: "What you are giving us is a choice of voting between one bunch of crooks and another."

Another, referring to expenses claims by Macclesfield’s MP Sir Nicholas Winterton and his wife, said: "Why are we paying MPs £400 to buy food? It is ridiculous."

Yet another said: "Why didn’t you put your heads above the parapet five years ago? The thing we need in future is transparency."

Mr Osborne said "big constitutional changes" were going to take place and that he would like there to be a General Election in three weeks time. He also admitted that the reputation on expenses of any MP who stood for new speaker of the House of Commons would be a factor.

He said he had claimed £22,000 in the past 12 months for his second home and was 196th in a ranked list of MPs’ expenses claims.

"I also claim £18,000 to run an office. It isn’t money into my pocket. I employ two people who answer well over 100 letters a week and they aren’t my relatives. I don’t have a second earned income from a job or consultancy. I get £67,000 to be an MP and shadow chancellor."

Defending his £440 chauffeur claim in November 2005, he said: "Lots of times I have been driven long distances by the BBC. On this occasion it was the only time in five years when I had this situation of a dinner at night (needing to be in London in the morning).

"It is within the rules but when I looked at it again, I thought I wanted to pay it back in order to remove the question mark."