London: Prime Minister Gordon Brown said three former Labour MPs accused of fiddling their parliamentary expenses will have to pay back the publicly funded legal aid they are to receive to help pay for their defence.
"I think this money will have to be paid back by these politicians," Brown told BBC radio Derby.
"I think the evidence is that people in their position will have to pay back any money that they get in legal aid."
Elliot Morley, David Chaytor and Jim Devine all face criminal charges of false accounting over claims they made for mortgage payments, rent and other services. They deny the accusations.
Public anger
Last year's parliamentary expenses scandal, which involved dozens of MPs from all the main political parties, angered a public already struggling with the deepest recession in decades, and still rankles with many voters.
On Monday, court officials confirmed the cost of the three MPs' legal representation at trials expected later this year should be covered by the taxpayer-funded legal aid service.
Media reports said the trio's legal costs could cost as much as £3 million (Dh16.97 million).
Brown said free legal aid would be abolished at the end of June, in favour of means-testing.
"They would not have got it in these circumstances. So the law has been changed, I think the money will have to be paid back," he said.
But a spokesman for the Legal Services Commission said the change in law would not apply in these cases because the money had already been granted.
Under existing law though, a judge could decide at the end of the cases whether some or all of the money should be repaid.
