UNDER-fire MP Kitty Ussher has defended spending almost £40,000 of taxpayers’ money on renovating her London home.

The Burnley MP said the jobs" target="_blank">work to make her Brixton second home ‘habitable for her young family’ represented better value for public money than buying a finished home in the capital and claiming back stamp duty.

She admitted to having owned the house since 2000.

And she said her change last month, listing her London house as her first home, was on the advice of Parliament, not “flipping” addresses so she could claim for upgrades on her Burnley home.

Mrs Ussher has been criticised after claiming more than £40,000 between 2005 and 2007 in additional costs allowance (ACA) for her London home. In a letter to the Parliamentary fees office, she acknowledged her demands, which included a new bathroom, were above the limit set, but asked civil servants to “pay as much as you can”.

She said yesterday: “Although I already owned the house in London, it was in a dilapidated state. I had effectively moved to Burnley long before becoming a parliamentary candidate in 2004.

“When I was elected, I was eight months pregnant and the question arose of where I would stay when I had to vote in Parliament. On the advice of Parliamentary authorities, I agreed to make the existing house habitable for a young family, rather than use taxpayers’ money to pay the stamp duty and mortgage interest for another house in London.

“My children go with me everywhere, but Burnley remains and always has been the place where my family lives. That’s what I promised my constituents in 2004.

“I don’t believe MPs should design the system for their expenses, but we need a system which commands the trust of the people. That’s very important for democracy.”

She added that she and her husband had not lived in the London house for some years before she was elected, and that lodgers had lived there until just before the election in 2005.

Mrs Ussher’s expenses claim is amongst a number of those made by MPs that have been heavily criticised after being published in a national newspaper.

Calls have now been made for an urgent review of the whole expenses system.

Nigel Evans, Tory MP for the Ribble Valley, and Labour’s Greg Pope, MP for Hyndburn, have both vowed to publish every receipt on their personal websites from now on, and called for an overhaul of “rotten” practices. Neither of their claims have been reported, but both said they had nothing to hide Mr Evans said no MPs would emerge completely unscathed from the expenses row. He said: “It is a rotten system that should never have been allowed to go on.

“I have not seen my own claims yet, and I want the Government to bring forward the official publication of the allowances, hopefully within the next week. July will be too late.

“I have a second home in London and I have claimed for furnishings, but certainly not in the past year.”

Mr Pope said: “MPs, individually and collectively, owe the public an apology. There has been no movement for so long because the members cannot agree between themselves what the reforms should be.”

Gordon Birtwistle, leader of Burnley Council and Lib Dem prospective candidate, said: “This is all ridiculous. Kitty owned this house for five years before she even became an MP. When all is said is done she does earn £96,000 a year.”

YOUR VERDICT... MPs ARE OUT OF ORDER

Marc Hunt, 34, retail worker, of Manchester Road, Burnley, said: “It is a bit out of order really. We wouldn't get the chance to do something like this. Kitty Ussher should be brought to Burnley, put on the bandstand, and asked to explain herself to everyone.”

Emma Parkinson, mother-of-two, 29, of Coal Clough Lane, Burnley, said: “You could buy a house in Burnley and do it up for what she has claimed. I wish I could claim expenses for that.”

Jackie Hartley, 41, housewife, of Cog Lane, Burnley, said: “We are in a recession and everyone is suffering and having to watch what they spend – so why should MPs be allowed to get away with this?”

Rebecca Eccles, 17, a law student of Worsthorne, said: “It is not her place to be spending our money like this. We voted her in to help the community, not to help herself. There seems to be loads of people doing it.”

Amy Youll, 17, a Burnley College student of Bacup, said: “We can't afford anything at the moment and they have basically been taking our money. They put taxes up yet they are spending all this money on themselves.”

Joan McNally, 70, retired, of Cog Lane, Burnley, said: “I'm a pensioner and I have to manage on what little we get. These MPs are claiming for dog food and nappies. I think it is ridiculous and disgusting.”