LONDON (Reuters) – British Prime Minister Gordon  Brown said on Saturday parliament must do more than clean up its  expenses system to restore public trust, after his ruling Labour  party suspended a second lawmaker in a damaging perks scandal.

On its ninth day of disclosures from leaked expense claims  by members of parliament from all parties, the Daily Telegraph  said Labour’s David Chaytor claimed 13,000 pounds ($20,000) of  taxpayers’ money for a mortgage he had already paid off.

Brown’s political spokesman said Chaytor, who has promised  to repay the cash, had been suspended pending an inquiry.  Suspension strips Chaytor of his membership of the parliamentary  Labour party and converts him into an independent MP.

With two MPs now suspended and a junior minister stepping  down while allegations about his finances are investigated,  Labour has been hardest hit in a scandal which has scarred  parliament’s reputation and could influence coming elections.

“Unacceptable behaviour will be investigated and  disciplined. I do not rule out any sanction,” Brown said in an  article to be published in Sunday’s News of the World newspaper.
“Trust has been badly damaged and cannot be restored simply  by rectifying past mistakes and reform to the expenses system.  As well as righting wrongs and cleaning up the system, there is  now a clear need to go much further.”

Claims for lawnmower repairs, dog food, porn films and moat  cleaning have angered recession-hit Britons already disenchanted  with the political classes. The affair has also fuelled growing  dissatisfaction with a Labour government in power since 1997.

With local and European polls due on June 4, analysts expect  a backlash against the big parties in favour of smaller groups  such as the Greens, the anti-European Union UK Independence  Party and even the far-right British National Party. The scandal could also spill into the next parliamentary  election, which must be called by June 2010. Opinion polls point  to a big win for the main opposition Conservatives.