LONDON, May 29 (Reuters) - Britain's Chief Secretary to the Treasury David Laws resigned on Saturday after admitting claiming tens of thousands of pounds in parliamentary expenses for rent he passed on to his long-term partner.
Laws, a Liberal Democrat, holds the No. 2 Treasury job in a coalition government led by the Conservative Party that took office little more than two weeks.
Alongside Conservative finance minister George Osborne he is responsible for identifying cuts and slashing government spending to tackle Britain’s record peacetime budget deficit.
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.
