LONDON, May 29 (Reuters) - Britain's Chief Secretary to the Treasury David Laws resigned on Saturday after revelations about his parliamentary expenses, in a move seen as trying to limit damage to the new coalition government.
Prime Minister David Cameron replaced Laws, number two to the finance minister, within 24 hours of him admitting claiming tens of thousands of pounds in parliamentary expenses for rent he passed on to his long-term partner.
Laws, who was given a key role within the government of cutting government spending to tackle Britain's record budget deficit, was swiftly replaced by another Liberal Democrat, Scottish Secretary Danny Alexander.
Alexander will now take over the role of seeing through a series of tough austerity measures needed to save Britain billions of pounds.
Some of those austerity measures were laid down last week, when an initial 6.2 billion pounds ($9.05 billion) of departmental savings were announced, including cutting down on ministerial perks.
A virtual unknown outside the Westminster bubble, his profile rose during the election campaign as Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg's chief of staff.
(Reporting by Stefano Ambrogi; Editing by Louise Ireland) ($1=.6852 Pound) Keywords: BRITAIN LAWS/EXPENSES (stefano.ambrogi@reuters.com; +44 20 7542 8167; Reuters Messaging: stefano.ambrogi.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
Prime Minister David Cameron replaced Laws, number two to the finance minister, within 24 hours of him admitting claiming tens of thousands of pounds in parliamentary expenses for rent he passed on to his long-term partner.
Laws, who was given a key role within the government of cutting government spending to tackle Britain's record budget deficit, was swiftly replaced by another Liberal Democrat, Scottish Secretary Danny Alexander.
Alexander will now take over the role of seeing through a series of tough austerity measures needed to save Britain billions of pounds.
Some of those austerity measures were laid down last week, when an initial 6.2 billion pounds ($9.05 billion) of departmental savings were announced, including cutting down on ministerial perks.
A virtual unknown outside the Westminster bubble, his profile rose during the election campaign as Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg's chief of staff.
(Reporting by Stefano Ambrogi; Editing by Louise Ireland) ($1=.6852 Pound) Keywords: BRITAIN LAWS/EXPENSES (stefano.ambrogi@reuters.com; +44 20 7542 8167; Reuters Messaging: stefano.ambrogi.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.