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Lynne Beaumont, Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for Folkestone and Hythe, has called on Members of Parliament to be sent to prison if found guilty of false accounting in their expense claims.

Three MPs charged with false accounting following the Westminster expenses scandal are vowing robust defences - saying their cases should be dealt with by Commons authorities rather than the police.

A Conservative peer also charged over claims for House of Lords allowances has also dismissed the accusation and vowed to "vigorously" defend himself.

The MPs - Elliot Morley of Scunthorpe, David Chaytor of Bury North and Livingston's Jim Devine - and Lord Hanningfield became the first politicians to be charged, following last year's explosive parliamentary expenses revelations.

The Public Prosecutions Director has said that three Labour MPs and one Tory peer are to face charges under the Theft Act over their expenses claims.

Beaumont said: "If the four Parliamentarians are found guilty of false accounting, then they should be jailed."

The indictments could see each jailed for up to seven years.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said: "Where there has been criminal action it has got to be dealt with in the harshest way."