TWO MPs, Julie Kirkbride (Conservative) and Margaret Moran (Labour) have announced they will not contest the next election. Ms Kirkbride, MP for Bromsgrove, who had mounted a losing battle after re-mortgage her second home by �50,000 to fund an extension, said she had to “take into account the effect on my family” of the row.

Graham Dines

TWO MPs, Julie Kirkbride (Conservative) and Margaret Moran (Labour) have announced they will not contest the next election.

Ms Kirkbride, MP for Bromsgrove, who had mounted a losing battle after re-mortgage her second home by �50,000 to fund an extension, said she had to “take into account the effect on my family” of the row.

Luton South MP Margaret Moran announced she was standing down after allegations in the Daily Telegraph that she claimed �22,500 for treating dry rot in her designated second home in Southampton - 100 miles from her constituency.

In a letter to her, Conservative leader David Cameron said he appreciated that she had been "under enormous pressure" from “unbearably intense” media scrutiny.

She told the BBC that she “bitterly regretted” not questioning her husband Andrew MacKay - the Tory MP for Bracknell who will stand down at the next election following controversy over his own claims - about advice he offered her when she filled out her expenses claims.