YORK-BORN Tory MP David Davis has been plunged into the Westminster expenses controversy after it emerged he claimed £5,700 for a new portico at his East Yorkshire home.

The former shadow home secretary has defended his actions after the Daily Telegraph reported he spent more than £10,000 of taxpayers’ money for improvements in four years at his home at Spaldington, near Howden.

It said that as well as the portico, he claimed more than £2,000 for the cost of mowing and rolling two paddocks and another £400 for overhauling a tractor mower. The portico, an open porch that normally protects a property’s front door from the weather, was bought in July 2006.

A spokesman for the MP for Howden and Haltemprice said Mr Davis was not adding to a statement he had given to the Telegraph, in which he said he had had no choice but to replace the portico before it came apart.

Mr Davis, who chaired the public accounts committee – which monitors Government spending – between 1997 and 2001, said he had bought it to deal with “severe water damage,” adding: “It was replaced on a like-for-like basis, except for a change to prevent the water damage recurring. As such, it was not an improvement.”

He said the paddock referred to was a large lawn to the front of his house, and he had paid someone to mow the grass because he did not have time.

Mr Davis said: “As far as possible, we cut this ourselves, but as you are well aware, the combination of a frenetic national role and a busy constituency preclude this the vast majority of the time.”

Ryedale Tory MP John Greenway said of the expenses storm: “I am so depressed by the whole thing. It is such a fuss about relatively trivial amounts of money.”

He said he could understand the public’s concerns and could not himself believe that some expense claims had been paid out, but said it was an important principle that MPs should be reimbursed for the cost of running two homes – one in their constituency and another at Westminster. He believed the second home allowance should be scrapped and replaced by an improved salary for MPs.

Selby’s Labour MP John Grogan said: “It’s an absolute disaster for Parliament and for trust in MPs. It’s the worst time I have experienced since I became an MP 12 years ago.”

He said it was essential for the system to be reformed as quickly as possible.

York MP Hugh Bayley said: “MPs are well paid and I understand why the public is up in arms.”

He said he had pressed in January for details of second home claims to be published and this should now be brought forward.