A former High Court judge has dismissed an appeal by shadow defence secretary Liam Fox against a finding that he was overpaid more than £22,000 in parliamentary expenses for mortgage interest on his second home.
Dr Fox was one of five MPs whose appeals were rejected by Sir Paul Kennedy - also including Communities Minister Shahid Malik, who was overpaid by £1,340 in expenses for council tax and a TV at his second home.
Sir Paul upheld appeals from nine MPs in whole or in part, reducing the total demanded by Sir Thomas Legg's audit of Westminster expenses for the past five years by a further £24,351.93.
The report relates to a handful of MPs and former MPs whose appeals could not be dealt with by the time of the publication of the Legg Report last month.
It represents the final rulings on MPs' expenses in a process triggered by the release of details of their claims early last year, and means that around £1.1 million is to be repaid.
The House of Commons authorities have now set a deadline of July 31 for all the money owed by sitting MPs to be handed back or for formal arrangements for repayment to be made.
Commons authorities are also in discussion with a "small number" of former MPs who have not yet repaid the sums demanded by Legg.
Dr Fox challenged the Legg Report's finding that he was overpaid by £22,476.03 after increasing the mortgage on his London flat from £120,000 to £300,000, using most of the capital to pay for a family home in his Woodspring constituency and to refurbish his second home.
Sir Paul found that the money claimed by Dr Fox was "not recoverable under the rules then in force", which said allowances could not be claimed on additional mortgages secured on the same property.
In Mr Malik's case, Sir Paul found that Sir Thomas was right to recommend repayments totalling £1,340 - of which the Dewsbury MP had already returned £1,304.
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