Thumbs up from Burnley MP for "The Clarets"

Thumbs up... Kitty Ussher

Click Poll

Is Kitty Ussher right to say she has done "no wrong" claiming cash for home improvements?

Voting has finished. The results are as follows.
Yes 0%

 

No87%

 

Yes - but the system needs to be changed13%

 

A Lancashire MP caught-up in the Commons expenses controversy has come out of her corner fighting... with a "thumbs up" picture.

MP Kitty Ussher issued the photo of herself wearing the colours of Burnley FC in the count-down to the second leg of a Championship play-offs.

The Clarets have been outside the top flight since 1976 but have a chance to enter the Premiership if they beat Reading tonight at the Madejski Stadium.

The winners of the tie will face Sheffield United at Wembley on 25th May for the right to play in the Premier League next season.

Burnley lead the tie 1-0 thanks the Graham Alexander's penalty in the first leg at Turf Moor.

The Burnley and Padiham MP took the opportunity to don the claret and blue colours of Burnley FC at Westminster in support of the team

She donned the colours of the team in front of national icon Big Ben and while undertaking her Westminster duties.

Kitty Ussher said: "I’m happy, like the people of Burnley, to wear our team’s colours with pride and show my support.

"Sadly I will be needed in Westminster during the match and couldn’t make the trip to Reading. But I hope this is not the last match of the season and there is a big trip to Wembley to come and visits to all the Premiership grounds next season.

"I wish Owen Coyle and players all the luck in the world, up the Clarets."

Economist Miss Ussher denied any wrongdoing over allegations surrounding her expenses - dubbed the "House of Ussher" controversy.

Details of parliamentary expenses leaked and published in a national newspaper show that soon after first being elected to Parliament in 2005, she had sought money to renovate the Brixton house she had bought five years earlier.

She wanted, among other claims, the removal of Artex swirls on the ceilings, which she conceded could be seen as merely 'a matter of taste'.

This part of her request was turned down by Commons authorities.

Miss Ussher made claims including £5,615 for windows, a new bathroom costing £1,590, a John Lewis sofa and chair costing £1,590 and £587.76 in monthly mortgage interest payments, according to reports in the Sunday Telegraph.

In a note to the fees office, the Work and Pensions Minister admitted: "I am aware this takes us over our limit - please pay as much as you are able!"

After the disclosure a spokesman for Miss Ussher said: "Kitty has always made clear that the public needs to have confidence in the democratic process.

"She fully supports the Committee on Standards in Public Life's review into creating a better system for MPs expenses that the Prime Minister has asked for and believes it is right that MPs expenses' claims should be published.

"All her claims were in line with the relevant House of Commons rules and guidance and have been approved by the Fees Office."

Comments about Thumbs up from Burnley MP for "The Clarets"