SOME of the most high profile MPs in the country, including the Prime Minister himself and the former home secretary Jacqui Smith were among the hundreds who received letters from the expenses watchdog yesterday.

Some were urged to pay back money they had claimed in the past five years, following Sir Thomas Legg's audit of all second homes expenses claims made since 2004.

Ms Smith was ordered to apologise to the House of Commons.

We realise that many MPs may see this as rough justice. But we feel that the whole expenses row is a wrong that has to be put right.

To restore credibility in our political system the correction needs to be retrospective.

The question MPs have to ask is were they justified in claiming all the expenses they did and in many cases our view is that they were not.

The vast majority of the population will see it as morally right that the MPs concerned have been asked to repay money they claimed.

We understand some MPs are talking about hiring lawyers to dispute the order to repay monies they claimed.

We suspect that any who do so will not be standing in the next General Election.

Nobody would vote for them if they did.