Labour peer booted out of Lords claimed £40,000 AFTER expenses fiddle came to light

Shamed Labour peer Baroness Uddin carried on claiming thousands of pounds a month in expenses after she was exposed as a cheat,

Lady Uddin, the first female Muslim peer, was able to pocket almost £40,000 in expenses last year even after it was revealed she had fiddled the system to claim money from the taxpayer.

In an unprecedented punishment last month, Lady Uddin was booted out of the Lords for 18 months and ordered to repay £125,000.

She claims she is now too poor to repay a penny.

Lady Uddin was exposed as a cheat on May 3 last year, after it was reported that she had never been seen at her designated ‘main home’ in Kent.

The small flat in Maidstone allowed her to claim £174 a night while she was actually living at her family home in London, provided by a housing association.

Figures published yesterday for Lords expenses reveal that Lady Uddin claimed almost £40,000 in the 12 months since April last year, including an extra £15,486 in overnight subsistence.

She took home £11,418 on ‘day subsistence’, £12,600 on office costs, £384 on travel and £29 on stamps.

She also received a free parliamentary BlackBerry.

Lady Uddin has always denied wrongdoing, but an investigation by the Lords authorities found she had deliberately exploited the system to boost her income.

Lady Uddin put the phone down yesterday when asked to comment on their expenses claims.

The revelations came as new figures showed members of the House of Lords claimed around £16million in expenses last year – an average of about £21,000 for each of the 763 peers.