MPs and peer due in court on expenses charges

Three Labour MPs and a Conservative peer are due in court later today to face charges relating to their parliamentary expenses.

Elliot Morley, David Chaytor, Jim Devine and Lord Hanningfield will deny false accounting when they appear at City of Westminster Magistrates' Court. If found guilty, they could face jail sentences of up to seven years.

Morley, the former agriculture minister and MP for Scunthorpe, is alleged to have claimed £30,000 more than he was entitled to in second home expenses. Chaytor, MP for Bury North, is accused of dishonestly claiming £1,950 for IT services and £18,300 in rent on properties he and his mother owned.

Devine, MP for Livingstone, is alleged to have claimed £3,240 for cleaning services and £5,505 for stationery using false invoices in 2008 and 2009. Lord Hanningfield is accused of claiming for overnight allowances when records show he was in fact at his home in Essex.

Meanwhile, the Metropolitan Police are reported to have launched an investigation into Labour MP Harry Cohen after he claimed more than £70,000 in second home expenses for a house he rarely visited.