FORMER LABOUR PARTY MP David Chaytor has been jailed for 18 months by a UK court for filing false expenses claims.

Chaytor, 61, pleaded guilty last month to three counts of false accounting to a total of £18,350 (€21,978) and faced a maximum sentence of seven years.

He had filed claims for IT consultancy he was not charged for and for the rent on two homes which were actually owned by him and his mother, according to the BBC.

At his sentencing, the judge said the claims were in breach of the “high degree of trust placed in MPs to only make legitimate claims”, and what he had done would have “wider and more important consequences” in the effect they would have on the public’s confidence in politicians.

A spokesperson for the British Labour Party said Chaytor had already been suspended from the party, and would now be “excluded from the party”.

Allegations of Chaytor’s fraudulent activities began emerging in 2009, during the wider politicians’ expenses scandal in the UK which was reported on extensively by the Telegraph. Late last month, the Telegraph reported that investigators are believed to have recommended bringing charges against six current and former MPs and four members of the House of Lords.

The scandal uncovered a range of misused allowances and led to a spate of resignations from political office. As a result of that scandal, a public consultation has been set up to determine what should qualify as valid expenses claims.