SHE should have been sacked – that was the view of the Basingstoke UKIP leader who is set to challenge Maria Miller for her seat at next year’s General Election.

UKIP Parliamentary candidate, Alan Stone told The Gazette: “She shouldn’t have resigned, she should have been sacked – that sums up how I feel. The Tories had enough time to sort out their finances, David Cameron should have had his teams expenses squeaky clean, there is no excuse for that.

“David Cameron was ill advised and he shouldn’t have let it go on as long as he did.”

When quizzed about Maria Miller’s apology published on The Gazette website yesterday, he added: “It was a pathetic cop out, I think it took the petition of people to get her to say that.”

“She was given a get out of jail free card – if that had happened to any of my staff, they would have been out of the door immediately. She has done wrong and she should have had to pay the whole £90,000 back.

“Without a question of doubt she should have co-operated with the investigation, she is a public servant and she should be doing better. I have been talking to people in Basingstoke and they are all very angry so they won’t vote for her next time.”