A LABOUR MP who switched her second home allowance to a house in Southampton before spending £22,500 on doing it up today defended her expenses claims Backbencher Margaret Moran hit back at allegations she was one of the MPs who had milked the system saying she had broken no rules.

The Luton South MP spent £22,500 of taxpayers' money treating dry rot at her and her husband's house in the city – 100 miles from her constituency and the House of Commons – shortly after switching her ''second home'' there.

Records showed the Parliamentary fees office thought the work on the house in Southampton went against the ''spirit'' of MPs' allowances, but the rules did not give officials grounds to dismiss the claim.

Today Miss Moran, who earns £64,766 a year, said the property in Ivy Road, St Denys, was vital to her maintaining a proper family life.

She said: “My partner works in Southampton and has done for 20 years. If I’m ever going to see my partner of 30 years, I can’t make him come to Luton all the time. I have to be able to have a proper family life sometimes, which I can’t do unless I share the costs of the Southampton home with him.

“You could argue that I use it to be able sustain my work. Any MP has to have a proper family life, they have to have the support of their partner. I defy anybody to try and do a proper job, much less an incredibly pressured job, and I believe that everybody is entitled to some support and family life.”

She added that the accusations, which emerged in a report in a national newspaper, had angered her.

She said: “Not only has it been very stressful for me and my family, it gives the incredibly misleading impression that somehow we’ve been dodgy, that we’ve been fraudulent or corrupt. Nothing is further from the truth.”

The Southampton house was originally bought in 1988 by Miss Moran's partner Mike Booker, who is thought to be safety adviser to the University of Southampton. Her name was only added to mortgage documents only last year.

No-one has been at the mid-terrace house 100 yards from the River Itchen waterfront this weekend.

Neighbour Pete Starnes said: “We only see them there occasionally. We don't have a lot to do with them if we can help it.”

He said work on their house included an extension to the back of the kitchen and an en-suite shower in the bedroom.