MPs' Expenses

02 Jul 2009

Hackney Gazette

Hackney Gazette readers will have heard all about MPs' expenses. So I would like to put it on record that I do not have a second home. This means that I do not claim for furniture, fixtures or gardening on my expenses. I have my one home in Dalston and I have lived in for over 20 years.

But I understand why the public are angry about what has come out. We have heard about: second homes, flat screen televisions, fictitious mortgages and all sort of extravagances claimed by MPs. And quite rightly people are furious. I think that the Telegraph newspaper has deliberately slanted some of the coverage to make all MPs out to be thieves. And the majority of MPs are honest. But too many of us were abusing our expenses system.   

MPs are public servants paid out of tax-payers’ money and the public deserves better. But it is also important to remember that , when you hear how much MPs earn that includes all the money we pay our staff (and no I do not employ family members) AND the cost of all of our office equipment etc. 

The clean-up of the allowances system has now started. There will be an independent body which will have responsibility for MPs’ expenses, conduct and discipline. Everything to do with allowances – how much MPs get, what they can claim for, sanctions if they abuse the system – will now be done independently. The Prime Minister has also suggested having a code of conduct to more closely govern MP’s behaviour and work. There is an independent audit of all MPs’ expenses going ahead and “flipping” second homes will be banned. The loophole which allowed some MPs to avoid Capital Gains Tax has been closed and expenses will be published regularly to allow the public to see what their MP has been claiming for.

In the past few months the public have understandably turned against MPs. But I hope that the measures being put in place will clean up the system. It is important that MPs and the public are able to move on to dealing with pressing issues like unemployment and the financial crisis. 



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