Speaker gets on his bike after cash row

CANBERRA (Reuter) - The Australian parliamentary Speaker, Leo McLeay, said he would resign on Monday to take the pressure off the government over a pay-out made to him to compensate for a bicycle accident at Parliament House.

'This evening I told the Prime Minister that it is with regret that I will be tendering my resignation as Speaker of the House of Represenatives to the Governor-General on Monday,' Mr McLeay said in a statement yesterday. 'I reiterate there has been no wrongdoing on my part.'

Mr McLeay had been under enormous public pressure since it became know he had been paid 65,000 Australian dollars ( pounds 30,000) in compensation by the Joint House Department after falling from a collapsible bicycle, hired from the parliamentary recreation centre, and injuring his elbow.