Calls for MP to resign
A petition has been launched calling for
the resignation of Maidstone and the Weald MP Helen Grant after
details emerged about her £20,000-a-year second home expenses
claim.
Mrs Grant, who no longer
has a permanent home in the constituency, claims the maximum
expenses for a second home – a flat in central London, even though
her own £1.8m house near Reigate, Surrey, is only 19 miles from
Westminster.
Her Surrey home is in a London
zone where constituency MPs are not allowed to claim for a second
base in the capital as they are deemed too close. But Mrs Grant’s
claims are paid as her constituency of Maidstone is outside the
zone.
Now the leader of Maidstone
Green Party, Stuart Jeffery, one of the candidates who lost to Mrs
Grant in the 2010 election, has set up the electronic
petition.
He said “Her callous attitude
towards Maidstone and the Weald constituents, her broken promises
and her expense claims against the spirit of the rules,
all
mean she must go and are the reasons we have started the
petition.
"In a government that
is destroying the lives of those most in need, the equalities
minister is busy making her life very comfortable.”
The MP described many of the
comments in the petition preamble as untruths and
defamatory.
She said: "I am now taking legal
advice and reserve my rights to take action against Mr Jeffery and
indeed anyone who publishes, or republishes statements that are
wrong or misleading for the purpose of trying to damage my
reputation.”
She now says her Surrey home
has been on the market since October 2010, reiterating that
she stays at her mother’s house in Sutton Valence, when she is
required to be in the constituency.
She added: "Mr Jeffery’s
comments disgust me. My family and I have given a huge commitment
to this constituency. My mum’s moved here, my son’s moved here and
is at school here and I do everything I can for the people who I
really care about.”
Mr Jeffery will relay the
petition to the speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow,
but acknowledged it carries no legal weight, in spite of
the number of signatures.
The petition can be found at
www.gopetition.com
07/01/13
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