Phil Boswell told to repay £555 expenses claim for videos

AN SNP politician has been told to repay more than £500 in parliamentary expenses that he claimed for the production of four YouTube videos.
SNP MP Phil Boswell, in a screengrab from one of the four videos. Picture: ContributedSNP MP Phil Boswell, in a screengrab from one of the four videos. Picture: Contributed
SNP MP Phil Boswell, in a screengrab from one of the four videos. Picture: Contributed

Phil Boswell, the MP for Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill, claimed office costs of £555 for the making of four short clips aimed at informing voters about local events and his work as a member of parliament.

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But the videos were found to be exempt from the Westminster MPs’ expenses scheme as a watchdog ruled that the clips were either party political or referred only to the Scottish government, or both.

The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa) described one video as ‘unequivocally party political’, while two others didn’t feature Mr Boswell and were focused on Holyrood.

A statement from Ipsa read: “The original four videos to which the invoices refer are all, for the reasons outlined in this report, in breach of the scheme and should not have been claimed.”

Ipsa confirmed that Mr Boswell, who succeeded Tom Clarke as the Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill MP, had accepted the findings and repaid the money.

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