The expenses story is still dominating the papers.
The Daily Mail claims some MPs could be forced to repay up to £90,000. The Daily Telegraph quotes a Labour backbencher saying that no one in the parliamentary Labour party has a good word to say about Gordon Brown because of his role in the affair.
The Telegraph also carries an article from Nick Clegg, who wants Sir Thomas Legg to widen the scope of his inquiry. Clegg writes:
When the Legg process was first announced, I think most people expected the worst offences to come under the toughest scrutiny – MPs who avoided capital gains tax, claimed cash for mortgages that didn't exist or 'flipped' their second home so they could claim for renovations on house after house. Legg's review, which is still ongoing, will simply not be credible if it doesn't do all it can to investigate these offences. It must, in particular, expose every single one of those MPs who 'flipped' their second homes, potentially making hundreds of thousands of pounds of profits through taxpayer-subsidised property market speculation.
The Times says, that of the 135 MPs it contacted, almost half have been asked by Sir Thomas Legg to repay money or to provide further information. And the paper, in an editorial, suggests that Gordon Brown should deal with the problem by calling an immediate election. It says:
Rather than a succession of faceless bureaucrats standing in judgment, rather than the old boys' club putting up a series of hanging judges to decide on hanging baskets, it is surely time for the people to be permitted their say.
In the Commons today Gordon Brown and David Cameron will clash for the first prime minister's questions since July. Brown is also expected to make a statement about Afghanistan, which will include the announcement of the deployment of 500 more troops.
Elsewhere, the unemployment figures are out at 9.30am, Lord Mandelson is delivering a speech on new businesses and Yvette Cooper is giving evidence to a Commons committee.
