16 March 2024 , 19:55
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Three Tory MPs billed taxpayers for Remembrance Day wreaths last year, it can be revealed.
Former science minister George Freeman claimed £20 on expenses for the cost of a commemorative wreath on November 6, 2023. And backbencher Pauline Latham, the MP for Mid-Derbyshire, claimed £18.50 for a wreath of poppies, which she said had been laid at Duffield’s War Memorial in her constituency.
“I believe it is so important that we continue to remember the lives of brave men and women who have sacrificed their lives for us to enjoy peace and freedom today,” Ms Latham wrote in a post on her website. “Remembrance Sunday and Armistice Day are crucial opportunities to ensuring their memories are not forgotten.”
Fellow backbencher Duncan Baker’s expenses also show a claim for £20 for a wreath. But he told this newspaper it had been claimed in error and pledged to repay it.
He said: “I had no idea this had been claimed on my behalf as every other occasion for the last four years I have paid privately for my wreaths. The claim was made by an office employee who no longer is employed by me and the money will be immediately repaid. Had I known, I would never have sanctioned this.”
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There's no suggestion of any wrongdoing by the MPs, and claiming for such items is within Parliament's rules.
Mr Freeman told The Mirror he had repaid the £20 for the wreath after being made aware of it. He said:“This was an administrative error (I wasn’t aware that my office had included the £20 for the wreath in my November expense claim) which has already been corrected and repaid."