THE leader of Essex County Council has called on the House of Lords to revoke Lord Hanningfield’s peerage.

Essex County Council leader David Finch is to write to the House of Lords after the council decided to shelve legal action attempting to claw back £50,000 of taxpayers money after a last-ditch attempt to revive it was blocked.

Essex County Council leader David Finch announced this month he would not pursue the cash the authority believed was wrongly claimed in expenses by one of his predecessors.

Mr Finch accepted the recommendation of the authority’s audit committee, which had been told it would cost up to £110,000 to take the former Tory peer to launch a potentially unsuccessful legal battle.

That decision was immediately “called-in” by both opposition Lib Dem and Labour councillors for a scrutiny panel meeting on Tuesday.

The panel could have forced Mr Finch to look again at the decision.

But the bid failed after Conservative councillors on the committee insisted the original decision should remain.

However, Mr Finch said he will be writing to the House of Lords requesting them to remove his peerage.

The suggestion was put forward by Ukip.