Jim Devine the MP who the Sunlight Centre reported to the police for abusing his expenses is considering legal action against the Labour Party after it barred him from standing again as a candidate because of his expense claims.  The Sunlight Centre originally reported Mr Devine to the police over bogus claims he made for over £4,500 worth of shelves and repairs at his constituency office and electrical work in his London home.

Jim Devine, the Labour MP for Livingston, claimed that he had been cleared of any wrongdoing over his expenses by Sir Thomas Legg.

During the expenses scandal Mr Devine was reported to Labour’s star chamber and was subsequently deselected from the seat he took over from Robin Cook.

Mr Devine stated that the letter he recieved as part of the Legg Audit vindicated him and therefore he has instructed a lawyer to challenge the Labour Party for submitting him to the Star Chamber for deselection.  He also pointed out that Sir Thomas had been investigating only claims made by MPs under the Additional Costs Allowance (ACA) and had not examined claims made under ‘incidental expenses’ which cover office costs.

Published on October 14th, 2009 by chris