Supreme Court hears expenses appeal

An appeal by former Labour MPs Jim Devine, David Chaytor and Elliot Morley, charged with theft by false accounting in the wake of the expenses scandal, opened at the Supreme Court yesterday and continues today.

The Court of Appeal ruled in August that parliamentary privilege does not extend to criminal proceedings against members of parliament charged with making fraudulent expenses' claims.

However, Lord Judge, Lord Neuberger and Sir Anthony May certified a point of law, allowing the Supreme Court to consider the questions of whether the Crown Court is deprived of its jurisdiction to hear the case by article 9 of the Bill of Rights 1688 or by the exclusive jurisdiction of parliament (see solicitorsjournal.com, 14 September 2010).

Nigel Pleming QC, counsel for Chaytor and Devine, told nine Supreme Court justices that parliament had the power to punish and recover money wrongly claimed and investigate allegations, including allegations of dishonesty.

Pleming said that the courts below had recognised that the case raised important issues of principle, and, as far as he was aware, this was the first prosecution of any MP based on an MP's dealings with parliament for over 300 years.

'These proceedings have been brought and conducted against an extremely adverse, even hostile, media and political background.'

The hearing is expected to finish tonight. A spokesman for the CPS, represented by Lord Pannick QC, said there was no date for release of the judgment.