MPs across the West Midlands have been ordered to repay more than £50,000 in cash they received from the taxpayer to pay for mortgages, gardening and mobile phone bills.
It followed an investigation by independent auditor Sir Thomas Legg - who warned the expenses system was “deeply flawed”.
The repayments are for claims including antiques and massive bills for gardening or cleaning. Although MPs are allowed to claim for the cost of maintaining a second home, Sir Thomas ruled that anyone who spent more than £2,000 a year on gardening or £1,000 a year on cleaning had gone too far, and should repay the difference.
The largest single payment in the region came from Julie Kirkbride, MP for Bromsgrove, who repaid £29,243 - after she and husband Andrew Mackay, also an MP, boosted their allowances by claiming for different properties.
Ms Kirkbride is to the leave the Commons, after announcing over Christmas that she had given up her hopes of remaining an MP following a public outcry over her claims.
In some cases, MPs were told to repay money after apparently submitting legitimate claims and receiving payments twice from the Commons authorities.
A number were also told they had claimed for legitimate expenses such as mobile phone calls connected to their work as an MP - but had used the wrong form.
The inquiry was ordered by a Commons committee chaired by John Bercow, the speaker, in an attempt to end controversy about MPs’ expenses once and for all.
But it is likely only to remind voters about the failings of an allowances system which has caused widespread outrage.
Sir Thomas warned that there was a “culture of deference” among Commons officials who approved expenses - so that they gave MPs almost anything they asked for.
And he ordered 390 MPs across the country to repay £1.3 million and accusing senior figures of being obsessed with feathering their own nests.
Gordon Brown, who has handed back more than £13,000, welcomed the findings as “a very significant step forward” in restoring public trust following the damaging scandal.
But the credibility of the audit was called into question when it emerged that retired judge Sir Paul Kennedy had fully or partially upheld appeals by 44 MPs against Sir Thomas’s initial conclusions, reducing the total repayment demand from £1.3 million to £1.12 million.
The biggest repayment will come from culture minister Barbara Follett , who was told to repay £42,458 which she claimed for security, telephone lines and insurance for artworks.
Birmingham MP Steve McCabe (Lab Hall Green) said: “MPs got themselves into this mess and we asked Sir Thomas to come in and audit expenses claims.
“We have to accept his findings and make sure we stop these problems happening again.”
West Midlands MPs who have been told to make repayments:
Richard Burden (Lab Northfield): Repaid £458.01 after receiving too much for mortgage interest payments in 2007-8.
Lorely Burt (Lib Dem Solihull): Repaid £1,087 after receiving expenses for the same mortgage interest payment twice in April 2006.
Liam Byrne (Lab Hodge Hill): Was ordered to repay £111.84 for a mobile phone bill which he had claimed expenses on using the wrong form. However, the report shows that he actually repaid £2,269.01. This includes expenses the MP and Treasury Minister claimed for legal fees connected with the purchase of a London flat, which he has voluntarily repaid.
Bill Cash (Con Stone): Mr Cash succeeded in appealing against a ruling that he must repay £14,840 he claimed for renting a London flat from his daughter. Auditor Sir Thomas Legg ruled that this broke rules banning MPs from using expenses to benefit members of their family. But Sir Paul Kennedy, who considered appeals, reversed the decision.
However, Mr Cash has repaid £429.33 he claimed for an antique desk and chair. Commons rules allow MPs to claim for desks and chairs - but they are not supposed to buy antiques.
Roger Godsiff (Lab Sparkbrook & Small Heath): Has been ordered to repay £2,224.30 after he was overpaid for mortgage interest claims in 2007-8.
Brian Jenkins (Lab Tamworth): Repaid £484.85 after receiving too much for mortgage interest payments in 2004-5.
Lynne Jones (Lab Selly Oak): Repaid £815 after she was paid twice for the cost of repairing a radiator and central heating system in her London home in 2005.
Julie Kirkbride (Con Bromsgrove): Repaid £29,243 after she and husband Andrew Mackay, also an MP, both claimed for separate homes.
Ms Kirkbride told House of Commons staff that a London flat was her main home, allowing her to claim expenses on a “second home” in Bromsgrove. Meanwhile, her husband designated the Bromsgrove property as his main home - and claimed expenses on the London flat.
It meant that between them, they had no main home which they paid for themselves. But the allowance is only supposed to compensate MPs for the cost of needing a second home, not to let them avoid paying normal household costs on their main property.
Sir Thomas ordered Ms Kirkbride to repay £29,243 - and her husband to repay £31,193. The couple have now handed over the cash, which comes to £60,436 between them.
But Ms Kirkbride did successfully appeal against demands that she should also repay £2,584.26 received to help pay for a mortgage to build an extra bedroom at her Bromsgrove home, which was used by her borther when he babysat her son.
Peter Luff (Con Mid Worcestershire): Repaid £1,391.57 which he was overpaid for mortgage interest claims between 2005 and 2007, £255 for cleaning bills in 2004-5 which were deemed to be excessive and £523.77 after he was overpaid on claims for kitchen accessories and china in January 2008, making a total of £3,868.23.
Khalid Mahmood (Lab Perry Barr): Told to repay £544.21 after he received too much for mortgage interest in 2004 and for rent in 2005.
Andrew Mitchell (Con Sutton Coldfield): Has repaid £371.17 after receiving too much for mortgage interest claims in 2007-8, and £2,302.16 after he was overpaid for council tax between 2005 and 2007.
Ian Pearson (Lab Dudley South): Has repaid a total of £941.46. This includes £311.72 for mortgage interest in 2008-9; £153.86 for cleaning bills in 2005-6 which were deemed to be excessive, and £75.88 for computer repairs and wi-fi set up for his office. These were actually allowed under Commons rules, but Mr Pearson claimed using the wrong form.
Richard Shepherd (Con Aldridge Brownhills): Repaid a total of £3,191.88. This includes £705 for work to a tree which he received expenses for twice; £576 for gardening bills deemed to be excessive; £1,800 for cleaning bills also deemed to be excessive, and £110.88 after he claimed for cleaning bills during a general election, when MPs cannot claim expenses and are not officially MPs at all.
Clare Short (Ind Ladywood): Ordered to repay £2,588.80. This includes £599.14 after she received expenses twice for the same repairs to her house; £189.90 for mortgage interest claimed during the general election; £1,206.50 for mobile phone calls which she claimed for using the wrong form; £736 for gardening bills deemed to be excessive, and £456.40 for cleaning costs deemed to be excessive.
Jacqui Smith (Lab Redditch): Has repaid £1,469.87, including £1,309.87 for cleaning bills deemed to be excessive between 2004 and 2008, and £160 which she claimed for garden furniture - which MPs are not allowed to claim for - in 2004.
Caroline Spelman (Con Meriden): Has repaid £2,635.51. This includes £276.78 after she received expenses twice for the same electricity bill in 2004; £1,635.93 for mobile phone bills which she reclaimed using the wrong form, and £488.80 for cleaning bills deemed to be execssive between 2005 and 2008.
Gisela Stuart (Lab Edgbaston): Has repaid £447.86 after she received too much for a mortgage interest claim in 2005-6.
Lynda Waltho (Lab Stourbridge): Has repaid £134.01 after she claimed for cleaning bills deemed to be excessive in 2007-8.
Estelle Morris: Former Labour MP for Yardley, now Baroness Morris, was ordered to repay £5,564.20 after claiming for a new boiler in March 2005 - just before she stood down from the Commons. She was also overpaid for a service charge in 2005.
The following MPs have been told there is no need for them to repay money:
Ian Austin (Lab Dudley North), Adrian Bailey (Lab West Bromwich West), Michael Fabricant (Con Lichfield), Bruce George (Lab Walsall South), Sylvia Heal (Lab Rowley Regis), John Hemming (Lib Dem Yardley), Steve McCabe (Lab Hall Green), Sion Simon (Lab Erdington) (Mr Simon has separately volunteered to repay £21,000 he received for renting a London flat from his sister, but has not been ordered to make a repayment by the inquiry), John Spellar (Lab Warley), Tom Watson (Lab West Bromwich East), David Winnick (Lab Walsall North) and Tony Wright (Lab Cannock).
