Three former Labour MPs and a Tory peer must face a criminal trial as judge rejects claim of parliamentary privilege

This article is more than 10 years old

This article is more than 10 years old

Three former Labour MPs and a Conservative peer are not protected from prosecution by parliamentary privilege, a judge ruled today.

The decision by Mr Justice Saunders means David Chaytor, Elliot Morley, Jim Devine and Lord Hanningfield will all stand trial for theft by false accounting at a criminal court.

Sitting at Southwark crown court, the judge said the argument that submitting an expenses form was part of the proceedings of parliament, and therefore protected by privilege, was akin to saying that the coin used in a slot machine was part of its machinery.

"The decision that I have had to make has not been easy," he said.

"If the question of parliamentary privilege had not been raised, I would have initiated this inquiry myself, as I would have had to satisfy myself that the allegations to be investigated at trial were not covered by privilege."

He added that the privilege was that of parliament, and not of any individual member, so the defendants would not have been able to waive it even if they had wanted to.

He said the "extreme suggestion in some quarters that the fact that the defendants have raised this issue is some indication of guilt is not only misconceived but also unfair".

"Very important constitutional principles are involved which must be respected, and that must be the case even if it leads to a result which is unpopular not only with the public but also with members of parliament," said Saunders.

Media organisations including the Guardian successfully applied for reporting restrictions to be lifted, permitting the reporting of the judge's ruling on the issue of parliamentary privilege.

In his ruling, Mr Justice Saunders said parliament does not have an effective procedure for investigating and deciding guilt, and the range of penalties open to parliament was "considerably smaller" than that available to the criminal courts.

"If possible, it is preferable for criminal allegations to be decided by criminal courts who are equipped to deal with them," he said.

The judge said he accepted that the processing of the expenses forms was part of the workings of parliament, but added: "I see no reason to extend that privilege to cover the submission of the form.

"There has to be a line drawn and it has to be drawn somewhere."

He went on: "The fact that it is the submission of the claim form that sets the machinery of parliament in motion does not make it part of that machinery, just as putting a coin in a slot machine does not make the coin part of the mechanism of the slot machine just because it initiates the process."

Chaytor, 60, of Todmorden, Lancashire, the former MP for Bury North, is accused of falsely claiming rent on a London flat he owned, falsely filing invoices for IT work and renting a property from his mother, against regulations.

Morley, 57, of Winterton, North Lincolnshire, the former Scunthorpe MP, is charged with falsely claiming £30,428 in interest payments between 2004 and 2007 towards a mortgage on his home which he had already paid off.

Devine, 57, of Bathgate, West Lothian, the former MP for Livingston, is accused of wrongly submitting two invoices worth a total of £5,505 for services provided by Armstrong Printing Limited. He also faces a second charge alleging that he dishonestly claimed cleaning and maintenance costs of £3,240 by submitting false invoices from Tom O'Donnell Hygiene and Cleaning Services.

Lord Hanningfield, 69, of West Hanningfield, near Chelmsford, Essex, a former leader of Essex county council, faces six charges of making dishonest claims for travelling allowances.

All four defendants are on unconditional bail.