Police to look again at Denis MacShane's expenses

A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police in London confirmed that they would be re-opening an investigation into Dr MacShane’s claims.

Dr MacShane quit as MP for Rotherham last November after admitting using fake receipts to wrongly claim more than £7,000 of parliamentary expenses.

Police began examining Mr MacShane’s expenses more than two years ago after allegations about abuse surfaced.

The criminal probe was dropped last July. But the ex-Labour minister stepped down from the Commons after the committee found he had faked receipts to receive thousands of pounds of public money.

A spokesman for the Met said: “We can confirm that following an assessment of the report published by the Standards and Privileges Committee and following liaison with the Crown Prosecution Service, the Metropolitan Police is re-opening the investigation.”

The report included letters from Mr MacShane to the standards commissioner detailing his actions, which had not previously been seen by police.

However, the Commons authorities have suggested such material would not be admissible in court as it is protected by parliamentary privilege.

The case was originally referred to Scotland Yard in October 2010, but police and prosecutors took no action at the time, citing a lack of evidence.

But last year, an inquiry by MPs on the House of Commons Standards and Privileges Committee found that he had made a written statement to it admitting he had submitted false invoices to claim around £7,500 in expenses.

Conservative MP Philip Davies wrote to the police asking them to re-open their inquiry in light of the new evidence and after consultation with the Crown Prosecution Service, they have decided to do so.

The false invoices related to work Dr MacShane carried out in Europe, an area for which he previously had ministerial responsibility in the government of Tony Blair.

Dr MacShane has since paid the money back.