The government has shut down 61 online petitions calling for Tory minister Maria Miller to be sacked over her second-home expenses scandal, the Morning Star can reveal.

Petitions demanding Ms Miller be sacked as Culture Secretary have been constantly created since she was ordered last week to repay a fraction of the £45,000 in taxpayer’s cash she wrongly claimed.

But every one of the petitions on the official government website was shut down before it could attract signatures.