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Former Labour environment minister pleads guilty to fraudulently claiming more than £30,000 in expenses The former Labour minister Elliot Morley faces a prison sentence after pleading guilty to dishonestly claiming more than £30,000 in parliamentary expenses relating to false mortgage claims. The former MP for Scunthorpe County admitted two charges, one of claiming interest payments on a mortgage he had already paid off, and another of claiming more in mortgage interest than he was actually paying. He was charged with two counts of false accounting under the 1968 Theft Act totalling £30,428 in relation to claims he made against his home in Winterton, near Scunthorpe. The first related to filling out 19 claims forms stating he was paying £800 a month in mortgage interest between April 2004 and February 2006, “when in fact he was paying a lesser amount”. The second related to filling out 21 claims forms for £800 per month in mortgage interest between March 2006 and November 2007, “when in fact the mortgage had been redeemed”. The former environment minister, from 2003 to 2006, and one of Labour’s most eminent voices on green issues, had publicly apologised and repaid the money, blaming “sloppy accounting”. In March 2010, a hearing at Westminster magistrates court was told he would deny the charges. Morley was sacked as Gordon Brown’s climate change adviser and suspended from the parliamentary Labour party after allegations over his expenses emerged. He announced he would step down from his seat, saying he did not want to undermine the strong position Labour had in his constituency in the runup to the general election. He had referred his claims to the parliamentary standards commissioner, John Lyon, to demonstrate there was “no intent” to overclaim. He said in his resignation statement: “I have never tried to duck responsibility for my mistake and have repaid the amount in full. I understand people’s anger over the whole issue of MPs’ expenses and their frustration. For those who condemn me I would simply ask to be allowed the opportunity to present my case.” Morley, a former teacher, was sent for trial after the supreme court in December dismissed the legal argument that the case was covered by parliamentary privilege. Together with David Chaytor, 61, the former Labour MP for Bury North, and Jim Devine, 56, former Labour MP for Livingston, he had claimed any investigation into expenses should be heard by parliament and not the criminal courts. In a statement at Westminster magistrates court in 2010, the three said they “unequivocally and steadfastly maintain their innocence of the charges against them”. Chaytor was jailed for 18 months in January after admitting to claiming £18,350 in bogus rent and IT payments. Devine, the only MP to stand trial, was convicted by a jury in February of false claims for cleaning and printing work totalling £8,385 and sentenced to 16 months in jail last week. Eric Illsley, 55, the former Labour MP for Barnsley Central, who pleaded guilty to dishonestly claiming £14,000 relating to insurance, repairs, utility bills and council tax at his second home, was jailed for a year in February Morley’s guilty plea marks an inauspicious end to a political career that saw the avid birdwatcher elevated to a ministerial post at the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when Labour came to power in 1997. In this role he handled the controversies over foxhunting and EU fishing quotas, as well as the government’s response to the devastating 2001 foot-and-mouth outbreak. He was promoted to minister for the environment in 2003 and helped launch the government’s anti-coastal erosion programme. In 2005, Morley was named climate change minister and described by one newspaper as having “the most impressive green credentials of any Labour minister”, before leaving the government in a 2006 reshuffle. His case was adjourned for sentencing. MPs’ expenses House of Commons Labour Caroline Davies guardian.co.uk