Editing David Laws (section)

===Expenses scandal, resignation and suspension from Parliament===
[[File:David Laws.jpg|thumb|left|Laws speaking in 2013]]
On 28 May 2010, ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'' disclosed that Laws had claimed more than £40,000 on his expenses in the form of second home costs, from 2004 to late 2009,<ref>{{cite news|last=Prince|first=Rosa|title=Cabinet reshuffle: David Laws returns to Government two years after resigning in disgrace over his expenses|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/liberaldemocrats/9520622/Cabinet-reshuffle-David-Laws-returns-to-Government-two-years-after-resigning-in-disgrace-over-his-expenses.html|access-date=16 September 2012|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|date=4 September 2012}}</ref> during which time he had been renting rooms at properties owned by what the newspaper claimed to be his "secret lover" and "long-term partner", James Lundie. They were not in a [[Civil partnership in the United Kingdom|civil partnership]]. ''The Daily Telegraph'' had not intended to reveal his [[sexual orientation|sexuality]], but Laws himself did so, in a public statement shortly before the newspaper's publication of the story.<ref name="Telg Expenses">{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/mps-expenses/7780642/MPs-Expenses-Treasury-chief-David-Laws-his-secret-lover-and-a-40000-claim.html |title=MPs' Expenses: Treasury chief David Laws, his secret lover and a £40,000 claim|work=The Daily Telegraph |date=28 May 2010 |access-date=28 May 2010 | location=London | first1=Holly | last1=Watt | first2=Robert | last2=Winnett}}</ref> Lundie is a former Liberal Democrat Press officer and now works for the Political Affairs team of [[public relations]] and [[political lobbying|lobbying]] firm, [[Edelman (firm)|Edelman]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://elections.edelman.co.uk/author/james-lundie/ |title=UK General Election 2010&nbsp;– Author Archives |author=James Lundie |publisher=Edelmans |access-date=28 May 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100601095146/http://elections.edelman.co.uk/author/james-lundie/ |archive-date= 1 June 2010 |df=dmy }}</ref>

Laws misclaimed second home allowances of between £700 and £950 a month rent between 2006 and 2007, plus typically £100 to £200 a month for maintenance, to rent a room in a flat as the flat was owned and lived in by Lundie (in [[Kennington]], [[south London]]).<ref name="Telg Expenses"/> Lundie replaced his property with a house in 2007. Laws then recovered from the second home allowance the rent for its "second bedroom" at £920 a month, until September 2009. Laws afterwards rented another flat not owned by Lundie, who remained at the Kennington house. Since 2006 the relevant rules banned MPs from "leasing accommodation from... a partner."<ref name="Telg Expenses"/> He claimed small amounts in respect of his main home in [[Chard, Somerset|Chard]] in his constituency and holiday home in [[Provence, France]].<ref name="Five"/>

Laws resigned as Chief Secretary to the Treasury on 29 May 2010,<ref name="Resignation">{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/10191524.stm |title=Treasury Minister David Laws resigns over expenses |work=BBC News |date=29 May 2010 |access-date=29 May 2010}}</ref> stating that he could not carry on working on the [[Comprehensive Spending Review]] while dealing with the private and public implications of the revelations.<ref name="Resignation-letter">{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/10191673.stm |title=David Laws resignation letter to prime minister |work=BBC News |date=29 May 2010 |access-date=29 May 2010}}</ref> He claimed that his reason for the way he had claimed expenses had been to keep private details of his sexuality and that he had not benefited financially from this misdirection.

In May 2011 the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards reported to the Standards and Privileges Committee on the investigation into his conduct. The Committee concluded that Laws was guilty of breaking six rules with regard to expenses.  The Commissioner reported that none of the claims for the London properties was acceptable under the rules but that he had not intended to benefit himself or Lundie directly. In addition to finding against Laws with regard to the payment of rent to his friend, the investigation also found irregularities in phone bill and building work expenses.<ref>{{cite news|title=David Laws 'broke six MPs' expenses rules'|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-13347619|access-date=13 May 2011|newspaper=[[BBC News]]|date=10 May 2011}}</ref> The Committee concluded that "... the rental agreements submitted [by Laws] between 2003 and 2008 were misleading and designed to conceal the nature of the relationship. They prevented any examination of the arrangements that in fact pertained over the entire period".  Further, his claims for rent were in excess of market levels for a lodging agreement and a market-level agreement would not have included contributions from the lodger towards building repairs and maintenance which were claimed. The Committee concluded that it was inappropriate to judge whether the claims on a particular property were appropriate by reference to potential payments on another property, which was not in fact claimed for.<ref name="parliament1">{{cite web|author=The Committee Office, House of Commons |url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201012/cmselect/cmstnprv/1023/102303.htm#a7 |title=House of Commons&nbsp;— Mr David Laws&nbsp;— Standards and Privileges Committee |publisher=Publications.parliament.uk |access-date=5 September 2012}}</ref>

The commissioner stated "I have no evidence that Mr Laws made his claims with the intention of benefiting himself or his partner in conscious breach of the rules."<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-13371746 | work=BBC News | title=Lib Dem David Laws to be suspended over expenses claims | date=12 May 2011}}</ref>

Being found in unintended breach, Laws was [[Suspension from the UK parliament|suspended from the House of Commons]] for seven days <ref>BBC TV News 12 May</ref> by a House of Commons vote on 16 May 2011.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.parliament.uk/business/news/2011/may/commons-debate-on-standards-and-privileges-david-laws/ |title=Commons debate on Standards and Privileges report on David Laws |publisher=Parliament.uk |access-date=26 January 2012}}</ref> Laws gave costed estimates to the investigation showing his expenses could have been almost £30,000 higher over 2004–2010 if renting or claiming mortgage payments on his Somerset home which he owned outright.<ref>{{cite web|title=Mr David Laws&nbsp;— Standards and Privileges Committee|url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201012/cmselect/cmstnprv/1023/102303.htm|publisher=Parliament UK|access-date=8 October 2014}}</ref> [[Olly Grender]], journalist and former party Communications Director echoed this argument an article in 2011 in the ''[[New Statesman]]'' stressing that "If he had allocated his constituency home as his second home he would have still been in the cabinet, having claimed £30,000 more".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/olly-grender/2011/05/david-laws-suspended-report |title=Laws is guilty of poor judgement, not avarice (Olly Grender 12.05.2011) |date=12 May 2011 |publisher=Newstatesman.com |access-date=5 September 2012}}</ref>

The Committee mentioned the conduct of Laws after May 2010, stating: "We have also considered whether there needs to be a stronger sanction than repayments. Not only has Mr Laws already resigned from the Cabinet, his behaviour since May 2010 has been exemplary. He quickly referred himself to the Commissioner, has already repaid allowances from July 2006 in full, and has cooperated fully with the Commissioner's investigation". The Committee's conclusion was however that a stronger sanction than repayment was indeed needed. This led to the vote temporarily excluding Laws from the House of Commons.<ref name="parliament1"/>