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New expenses questions over Dewsbury MP
Fresh questions are being asked about the parliamentary expenses of Dewsbury MP Shahid Malik after it was reported that he claimed at least £6,500 for a second office alongside his taxpayer-funded constituency office.
Malik returned to government as junior communities minister after a watchdog inquiry cleared him of breaching the ministerial code over his housing arrangements.
But there were calls for Prime Minister Gordon Brown to publish the report of his independent adviser on the code, Sir Philip Mawer.
Mr Malik stepped down as justice minister last month while Sir Philip examined claims that he rented his three-bedroom constituency home at below-market rates of less than 100 a week, creating a potential conflict of interest.
It was announced that Sir Philip had found no breach of the code, as the rent said to have been charged was "reasonable in the light of market and other commercial considerations".
But Downing Street said the report would not be published "because it went into too much detail about Mr Malik's personal matters and therefore was not appropriate for the public domain".
Norman Baker, a Liberal Democrat MP and freedom of information campaigner, told the Telegraph: "Gordon Brown has fallen at the first fence on the transparency course. If Mr Malik has been cleared as we are told, why not publish the report?"
The Telegraph - which has obtained details of all MPs' parliamentary allowances - reported that Mr Malik claimed 200 a month for about three years in office expenses to cover the cost of what he referred to only as "Office 2".
It had already been revealed that Mr Malik claimed 6,000 a year to fund his main constituency office in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire.
The paper quoted Mr Malik as saying that "Office 2" claims related to "additional office space", but said he declined to say where it was or who he rented it from.
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Sunday 12 February 2012
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