THE eldest stepdaughter of Chris Huhne told a court the former Cabinet minister forced her mother to take the blame for his speeding points.

Georgia Beesley said her mother, Vicky Pryce, told her in 2003 Huhne had bullied her into taking the points.

She said her mother was told it would otherwise be her fault if he lost his licence, then the election for the Eastleigh seat.

Mrs Beesley was told about the demands placed on her mother in spring or early summer 2003, when she was about 25, Southwark Crown Court heard.

The witness did not live with Pryce and Huhne at the time, but lived nearby and would speak to her mother once or twice a week, the jury was told.

She said: "I remember speaking to my mother and she told me Chris had been caught speeding and was asking her to take speeding points.

"If he had taken the points he would have lost his licence.

"He was insistent she take the points for him."

Pryce is standing trial accused of perverting the course of justice by taking the speeding points in 2003. She denies the charge, saying she was bullied into it by her then-husband.

Giving evidence, her daughter told Southwark Crown Court: "He didn't want to lose his licence, he was standing for election and had to travel regularly to Eastleigh.

"He would say to her if she didn't take them he would not be able to drive, he would lose his licence, and it would be her fault if he didn't get elected."

She said her mother was "very upset, very angry", and "didn't want to take the points".

Mrs Beesley said she could not remember if her mother asked for advice but said she "definitely told her that she should not take the points".

She added: "He couldn't understand why she wouldn't do it."

She said her mother told her that Huhne had nominated her as the driver without telling her.

Mrs Beelsey said the issue resurfaced as Huhne lost his licence anyway that summer. He was caught talking on his mobile phone while driving and was disqualified.

She said: "Mum had to drive him whenever he needed driving. There was quite a bit of resentment."

She said her mother was "upset she had to do something she didn't want to do and the outcome was the same".

Mrs Beesley made a police statement in September last year, the court heard.

Asked by prosecutor Andrew Edis, QC, why she originally advised her mother not to take the points, she said: "I was single, I didn't understand the pressures that someone could be under in a marriage."

Describing the problems her mother had to deal with, she said: "She was on her own a lot of the time, dealing with the children, holding the family together while Chris was often away, trying to make sure that everybody was going to be okay.

"It was a very emotional time and the family was the most important thing."

Mother-of-five Pryce had told the court Huhne had been happy to take on stepchildren, treating all the children equally, and had given away both her daughters from her first marriage when they got married.

The evidence has now finished at Southwark Crown Court. The court will today hear prosecution and defence closing speeches, and a summing up.

Former energy secretary Huhne admitted perjury over the speeding points the offence last Monday.

The shock move ended his political career, sparking a by-election in Eastleigh, Hampshire, after he stood down as MP.