Cohen loses out on £65k send-off after breaches in expenses

Published on Monday 1 February 2010 21:53

THE Commons has agreed to strip Labour MP Harry Cohen of his £65,000 golden goodbye payment over a "particularly serious breach" of parliamentary expenses rules.

Mr Cohen designated a house in Colchester, Essex, as his main home even though he was not living there for long periods and rented it out, while claiming allowances worth more than 70,000 on properties in his Leyton and Wanstead constituency in east London.

MPs yesterday approved a report by the Commons standards and privileges committee which recommended withholding Mr Cohen's resettlement grant when he stands down at the forthcoming general election.

Mr Cohen, who made a formal apology to parliament last week, was not in the Commons chamber during the brief debate.

An investigation by Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards John Lyon found Mr Cohen had consistently designated the house in Colchester as his main home since he bought it in 1998.

However, from 2004 to 2008, Mr Cohen and his wife Ellen spent most of their time living in the constituency, while periodically letting out the Colchester house to tenants on six-month leases.

The committee acknowledged Mr Cohen had faced difficulties as his wife suffered a stroke in 2004 and required regular treatment at a north London hospital.

But committee chairman Sir Malcolm Rifkind told the Commons they had concluded the housing arrangements "represented a particularly serious breach of the rules".

As MP for an outer London constituency with only one home, Mr Cohen could have claimed about 9,000 in a supplement available to the capital's MPs.