Critics demand longer-term solution to MPs’ expenses

8 Jun 09
Academics have called for broader and more considered reforms to restore public confidence in Parliament after MPs approved a short-term package to defuse the furore over expenses

22 May 2009

By David Williams

Academics have called for broader and more considered reforms to restore public confidence in Parliament after MPs approved a short-term package to defuse the furore over expenses.

A cross-party agreement on a package of measures was reached on May 19 following the resignation of Speaker Michael Martin, and was approved by the Commons on May 20.

The measures, introduced by leader of the Commons Harriet Harman, are intended to act as a stop-gap while an investigation into the issue by the Committee on Standards in Public Life, headed by Sir Christopher Kelly, continues.

Colin Talbot, professor of public policy and management at Manchester Business School, said that the measures adopted by the Commons were appropriate in the short term.

He emphasised that wider issues such as Parliament’s relative powerlessness in the face of the executive were still to be addressed, and that the scandal might provide an opportunity for wider reforms.

‘Expenses are almost a side issue now. It will be sorted out, but by itself it’s not going to restore public confidence in Parliament, which has been severely damaged by this,’ he told Public Finance.

Talbot said the suggestion of a daily allowance for MPs, dismissed after it was suggested unilaterally by Prime Minister Gordon Brown, might yet be reconsidered as a sensible option.

Professor Robert Hazell, director of UCL’s constitution unit, told PF the interim package was acceptable, but criticised the press for creating a climate that required short-term measures.

‘I don’t think the issue does necessarily require an instant solution but politicians in a bidding war clearly believe it does,’ Hazell said. ‘I would rather it had been left to Christopher Kelly to conduct his inquiry.’

The Commons voted to end self-regulation, and to set up an independent watchdog to govern salaries and allowances.

Also approved was a £1,250 per month cap on mortgage interest and rent payments, an end to claims for furniture, cleaning and stamp duty, and a ban on MPs ‘flipping’ their designated second home.

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