EPPING FOREST: MP says she 'can't be confident' of winning crucial party vote (From East London and West Essex Guardian Series)

EPPING FOREST: MP says she 'can't be confident' of winning crucial party vote

6:30pm Tuesday 20th October 2009 in

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EPPING Forest MP Eleanor Laing has admitted she “can't be confident” of winning a vote of support from Tory party members at a crunch meeting to decide her political future.

The under-fire parliamentarian, who has faced a storm of criticism over her expenses claims, faces the Epping Forest Conservative Association this coming Monday (October 26) for a vote of confidence.

If Ms Laing loses the poll, she will not stand again as party candidate for the seat, and her political career will effectively be over.

If she wins, the MP hopes it will draw a line under the controversy surrounding her expenses and help achieve her ambition of continuing to be MP for the district for “many years to come.”

Speaking to the Guardian ahead of the meeting Ms Laing said she was touched by the “many letters and emails and calls” of support, but refused to say whether she expected to win the vote or not.

She said: “I can't be confident because I don't know who's going to attend the meeting. I can only hope that the work that I've done in the 12 years I've been a member of parliament will be recognised.

“I'm always very pleased to have the opportunity to meet party members directly and set the record straight.

“But very much depends on who manages to get to the meeting because some of my strongest supporters happen to be out of the country at the moment.

“I don't know who will come to the meeting.”

Ms Laing last week repaid £25,000 to the taxpayer as a “moral gesture” over the expenses issue, and was recently told by auditer Sir Thomas Legg that she need not repay any of her claims, unlike hundreds of other MPs.

Party members in the district have all been sent a letter by Ms Laing which says “We are now on the threshold of a Conservative victory...Our Party works best when we are united.

“We should not be fighting one another – we have a common enemy that must be defeated. I really need your support to go forward together to win that battle here in Epping Forest.”

For the result of next week's meeting visit guardian-series.co.uk

"FIVE MONTHS OF PRESSURE"

Ms Laing has faced what she describes as "five months of pressure" surrounding her expenses claims.

She insists she has done nothing wrong and has always acted within the rules, and no public body has found her guilty of any wrong doing.

The Daily Telegraph newspaper revealed in May that Ms Laing has claimed more than £80,000 of taxpayers' money towards mortage interest and service payments on her second home allowance for a flat in Westminister – even though she lives less than an hour away from Parliament.

The money was claimed under MPs' Additional Cost Allowance (ACA), which is designed to be used by MPs that need a second home to carry out their Westminster work.

Ms Laing's critics argue it was wrong of her to claim on the ACA on her Westminster Flat when she could have commuted to Parliament from her home in the district.

Additionally, when she came to sell the flats she avoided a £180,000 capital gains tax bill by telling the Inland Revenue it was her main home – despite previously telling Parliament it was her second home, although this is allowed under special rules for MPs set by the financial body.

Ms Laing says she declared the Westminster flat as her second home when she first became MP 12 years ago, and "didn't think" about changing the status when she came to sell them because the rules allow MPs to declare different homes as primary and secondary residences to difference bodies, and that it was "not an issue" at the time.

Ms Laing says she will still have to pay the tax when she sells her Theydon Bois home.

Ms Laing told the Daily Telegraph when the story broke that “the definition of principal private residence for Capital Gains Tax purposes is not a matter of choice but a matter of fact.”

The rules stipulate that MPs can choose which home they consider to be their primary or secondary residence. Ms Laing says the status of her Westminster flat was a “fact” because she spent the most time there.

Correction: the meeting is on Monday October 26, not Monday October 29 as previously reported.