Three labour MPs are arguing they cannot be prosecuted over expenses claims because they are protected by parliamentary privilege. The trio - Elliot Morley, David Chaytor and Jim Devine - are being represented by a legal firm that has acted as solicitor to the Labour Party since 1990. Their lawyers are understood to maintain that the Bill of Rights of 1689 makes them immune to prosecution. Police have forwarded files relating to the expenses claims of six MPs and peers to the Crown Prosecution Service.Mr Morley and Mr Chaytor both claimed thousands of pounds for "phantom" mortgages they had paid off. Mr Devine submitted invoices for electrical work worth £2,157 from a company with an allegedly false address and an invalid VAT number. Steel & Shamash, a London legal company, confirmed it had instructed two QCs to consider whether the MPs should be protected by parliamentary privilege."It is their opinion that there are substantial legal and constitutional arguments that this is, in fact, the case," a spokesman for Steel & Shamash told The Sunday Times. "Any possible future involvement of the prosecuting authorities in this instance raises serious constitutional issues that will affect not just our clients but the way parliament itself operates."
Three labour MPs are arguing they cannot be prosecuted over expenses claims because they are protected by parliamentary privilege.
The trio - Elliot Morley, David Chaytor and Jim Devine - are being represented by a legal firm that has acted as solicitor to the Labour Party since 1990.
Their lawyers are understood to maintain that the Bill of Rights of 1689 makes them immune to prosecution. Police have forwarded files relating to the expenses claims of six MPs and peers to the Crown Prosecution Service.
Mr Morley and Mr Chaytor both claimed thousands of pounds for "phantom" mortgages they had paid off. Mr Devine submitted invoices for electrical work worth £2,157 from a company with an allegedly false address and an invalid VAT number. Steel & Shamash, a London legal company, confirmed it had instructed two QCs to consider whether the MPs should be protected by parliamentary privilege.
"It is their opinion that there are substantial legal and constitutional arguments that this is, in fact, the case," a spokesman for Steel & Shamash told The Sunday Times. "Any possible future involvement of the prosecuting authorities in this instance raises serious constitutional issues that will affect not just our clients but the way parliament itself operates."
Scum. keep to the Fen Causeway
will affect not just our clients but the way parliament itself operates."
is that a threat or a promise? ~"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." Karl Jung~
Fortunately fiddling your expenses are unlikely to be found to be a proceeding of parliament.
