A WESTCOUNTRY MP has told an official inquiry into the Parliamentary expenses scandal that politicians should be able to profit from their taxpayer-funded second homes.

North Devon Lib-Dem MP Nick Harvey made the case in a six-page letter to the Committee on Standards in Public Life which has received more than 700 submissions.

Mr Harvey, who claimed up to £1,250 a month mortgage interest for his house in London, argued: "If making a capital gain is seen by some as a 'crime', then it is a 'victimless crime' because it does not add in any way to the taxpayer's burden: it is simply a function of market movement.

"The MP has borne all the risk, which may prove painful for some in the current market, and maintained the property in marketable condition.

"The taxpayer could not be expected to bear any capital loss. The fair and equitable sharing of any capital gain is through the capital gain tax system."

As the WMN revealed earlier this month, Mr Harvey also suggested that MPs outside London be paid a taxable and non-pensionable lump of £30,000, linked to inflation – based on the average cost of a hotel stay near Westminster and the number of nights MPs need to be in London.

It would mean a massive cut in the allowances for MPs, leaving them with £17,000 after tax.

But, the Liberal Democrat frontbencher, went on: "In return for this huge reduction, and the MPs renouncing their tax privilege and moving onto the same basis as everyone else, the taxpayer would relinquish the recently acquired right to probe into MPs' domestic expenditure."

Mr Harvey's suggestion on capital gains, along with arguments made by other MPs, has led to claims that they are portraying themselves as victims of the expenses furore.

St Ives Lib-Dem MP Andrew George told the committee he had been hounded by the media after accusations his daughter used his London flat more than he did.

"I bought nearly a third of my own property in London outright with my own resources and have called upon the use of the accommodation allowance to cover the remaining two-thirds through the claiming of mortgage interest relief," he said.

"I have also supplied much of the furniture, fridge, cooker, etc, for the property without any call on Parliamentary allowances. As, like most MPs, I work about an 80-hour week, I do not see much of my family, even when I am at my family home in the constituency in West Cornwall.

"I do not think that the public expect an MP to live in solitary confinement when they are away from their main home. For that reason, I believe that it is reasonable to allow a Member of Parliament to have members of his/her family with them.

"As a result of what I obviously consider to be unfair reporting and a misrepresentation of the facts, my family have been intimidated by the media, snooped upon and my daughter stalked."

Other MPs from the region to have submitted evidence to the committee inquiry including Alison Seabeck, Labour MP for Plymouth Devonport.

"I have put much more than the expenses covered into my Plymouth home," she said. "I claimed as advised by the fees office for the larger objects and so there are a number of costs which are not included which were incurred including things like the cost of removals and most of the basic furniture."

All the responses to the Committee on Standards in Public Life, which is expected to recommend a major shakeup of the system, have been published on its website: www.public-standards.gov.uk/ourwork/ mps_expenses_evidence.html