Whoops

A handful - and I stress that at the moment it is only a handful - of Cornwall's more Leftish Liberal Democrats tell me they are secretly delighted that the Yeovil Lib Dem MP and Chief Secretary to the Treasury David Laws has come unstuck over his expenses' claims.

Between 2001 and September 2009 Mr Laws claimed up to £950 a month to rent rooms from his partner. This has been against the rules since 2006 - something which Mr Laws has acknowledged. He has promised to refund taxpayers £40,000.

Before the general election, it was widely accepted that many MPs, from all three of the main political parties, had abused the Parliamentary expenses system. While several Conservative and Labour MPs lost the whip or were deselected as candidates, the Liberal Democrats were alone in failing to take any kind if disciplinary action.

Mr Laws has referred himself to the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner, but I wonder if his career will survive long enough for the Commissioner to reach a judgement. The Cornwall Lib Dems who are now chuckling quietly to themselves point out that since Mr Laws is the architecht of the £6.2 billion public spending cuts, including deep cuts to a number of projects backed by the South West RDA, Cornwall might well benefit from a different Chief Secretary to the Treasury.