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Baroness Uddin told to pay back expenses

Labour peer Baroness Uddin
Labour peer Baroness Uddin

Baroness Uddin has been told to pay back tens of thousands of pounds after a sleaze inquiry into her expenses for a Maidstone flat.

She was one of three peers told by the House of Lords Privileges and conduct Committee to repay expenses - running into tens of thousands of pounds between them.

An investigation found Baroness Uddin alone wrongly claimed £125,349.10.

But the matter was not a disciplinary one, so the committee recommended the Clerk of the Parliaments consider how the money could be recovered.

Baroness Uddin, together with Lord Bhatia and Lord Paul, were told they had wrongly claimed expenses, and all face lengthy suspensions.

The committee recommended Baroness Uddin be suspended until the end of the current session of Parliament, which is up to Easter 2012.

It had heard the peer bought the house in 2005, claiming it was her main residence.

She then claimed night subsistence for time spent away from Maidstone every week when the House was sitting. Lady Uddin also claimed mileage allowance for journeys to and from Maidstone every weekend when the House was sitting.

However, the committee found "several inconsistencies and contradictions within her evidence at different times."

It found there was little evidence of Lady Uddin using the house as a main home - until after finding out about a Sunday Times investigation.

The committee's findings follow a controversial decision not to bring charges against Baroness Uddin following an investigation into her parliamentary claims involving the flat in Wat Tyler Road.

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