Celia Barlow claimed £28,000 before switching home

Labour MP Celia Barlow submitted a £540 bill for gardening, installed a porch door and submitted another £520 invoice for shed removal.

In the 10 months after she informed officials of her plans, Miss Barlow redecorated two bathrooms, claimed more than £1,000 for electrical work and spent thousands in removal fees.

She submitted a £540 bill for gardening and installed a porch door and submitted another £520 invoice for removing a shed from her new garden and getting rid of unwanted concrete.

The MP for Hove has been feted for making no claims on her second home allowance in the past two years.

However, in 2006-07 she ranked joint first on the list of highest claimants.

Last week when questioned locally about her expenses, she said she had “no idea” how people would react.

In January 2006, Miss Barlow told the fees office she was nominating her new £555,000 house in Hove as her second home, with the intention that it would soon become her main house.

This allowed the MP to claim legal fees, stamp duty and her mortgage broker’s charges.

She also submitted a £2,890 bill for removal costs in the same form at the beginning of 2006. In all, she claimed £29,399 and was paid £13,881 by the fees office.

In May 2006, Miss Barlow submitted a £1,437 claim for moving furniture on her second home allowance.

Two months later, she claimed £5,565 which included £2,321 for “alterations to two bathrooms”, a £502 bill for storage and a £294 bill for a bed and a chair.

The MP was paid all but £446 of the bill.

She was refused the cost of the furniture because the receipt dated back to the last allowance year. Miss Barlow also submitted two receipts worth £1,060 for the cost of gardening, removing a wooden shed and concrete and installing a porch door. Although one claim for £520 was rejected, it was not clear if she was paid for the remaining £540.

In August 2006, Miss Barlow submitted an invoice from Bathstore which included a lavatory, basin, shower valve and a “high lustre silver” bath screen which came to £2,458.

Her total claim came to £5,183 and she was paid £4,935. She then submitted another claim which included £458 for a whirlpool bath, £574 for more bathroom goods and £1,183 for electrical services.

In all she claimed £4,181 and was paid £3,570 by the fees office, which took her to her maximum annual allowance of £22,110 five months early.

Miss Barlow said the fees office asked if she intended to make the Hove address her main home.

“I said that I probably would do so which I did after the move to Hove was concluded. I was advised to claim for the cost of moving into the Hove home.”

She said the porch was installed for security reasons, one bathroom was bare and the other had a broken lavatory.

Miss Barlow said the move took time because her children went to school in Chichester and that she had stopped claiming ACA in October 2006, even though she was entitled to a second allowance.