LABOUR Minister Tony McNulty should hang his head in shame over his £60,000 housing allowance claim.

In fact, we suggest he goes a step further and resigns.

At what stage did the work minister think it was OK to claim such vast amounts on his parents' home in his Harrow constituency just 11 miles from the Commons?

He says no rules have been broken.

We say it's time these rules were changed.

We are in the middle of a very deep recession where families are clinging on to their homes.

Yet some politicians think it is completely acceptable to claim as much as possible for second homes that are clearly not needed.

We have already seen this in Wales with some Assembly members claiming home allowances despite living just a few miles away from Cardiff Bay.

It seems politicians think the rules surrounding expenses are there to be exploited.

How many more of them are doing the same?

Or will it be up to newspapers to expose them one by one?

Mr McNulty's apparent arrogance over these claims says it all.

It shows that some politicians are happy to claw back all they can while their constituents struggle to make ends meet.

At the end of the day people should pay for their own homes.

Hiding behind claims of using a property to do constituency work won't wash.

The rules surrounding expenses must be reviewed and tightened immediately before any more of our money is wasted on their lavish lifestyles.

And Mr McNulty must go.

He is a hypocrite and an embarrassment to his party and the people who put him in this position in the first place.