DAVID Chaytor’s political opponents have rounded on the MP following the revelations made in the Daily Telegraph.

The prospective Conservative candidate for Bury North, David Nuttall, has reassured voters that, if elected, he would never adopt the practice of “flipping” where MPs change the designation of their second home so as to maximise the expenses they can claim.

He said: “My main home is here in Tottington and I will never change that designation. Any home I have to have in London would always be the one I would designate as my second home. Furthermore, I will never claim for food, furniture or household goods. I am conscious of the fact that it is taxpayers’ money that is being taken when expenses are claimed and too many current MPs seem to have forgotten that.”

Bury Mayor Councillor Sheila Magnall said: “These allegations make me feel very angry and very upset and no doubt Bury people will feel the same.

“When we knock on doors and canvass people, we regularly get people saying ‘you are only in politics for what you can get out of it’, but that is simply not true. However, when things like this happen, you cannot blame them for thinking that.”

Cllr Richard Baum, a Liberal Democrat who will fight Mr Chaytor’s Bury North seat at the next general election, said: “I have always thought that David was an honest man, but I think these allegations will do untold damage to not only the Bury North Parliamentary seat, but to politics in Bury in general.

“We are talking about £13,000 in claims on a second home, which isn’t too far off what someone would earn on minimum wage.”