Ten ways to clean up the Commons
So the system is to blame? Then change it with the following plan of action, offered by Jane Merrick
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Independent Minds
Parliament is on its knees. Bricks have been thrown through MPs' windows. One minister has resigned. And yet, Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg cannot reach agreement on how to end the expenses scandal and restore trust in Westminster. Here The Independent on Sunday presents a 10-point plan for cleaning up politics – proposals that all parties need to consider if they have a chance.
Hand back the profits on sales of homes subsidised by the taxpayer
Mr Clegg proposed this, but does not have the backing of the Tories and Labour. Many MPs have amassed huge property portfolios that have been boosted by second home allowances. When these homes are sold, all profits should be taken as tax.
Modest flat-rate allowance to pay for a second home
The £23,083 limit on second home, or additional cost, allowances is too high and has been shown to be open to exploitation. It should be about half the current figure. This would cover the cost of hotel accommodation or the rental or purchase of a flat for those MPs with constituencies more than 20 miles from London.
Salary
Keep it as it is, at £64,766. For a 36-week year, this is generous. It is also the second highest in Europe, second only to Italy, which is not known for its squeaky-clean politics. Travel should continue to be subsidised, but all first-class travel should be banned on rail and internal flights.
Ban claims on gardening and furniture, and restrict food expenses
The new flat-rate allowance should cover only utility bills and rent or mortgage interest. A new subsistence allowance of £40 a day, to cover food and drink, should be made available, but only when Parliament is sitting. There is no reason why the taxpayer should fund MPs' Christmas turkeys or summer lunches.
Halve claims for MP couples
The case of the married Tory MPs Andrew Mackay and Julie Kirkbride, who used each other's main residence as their second home, doubling their allowances, shows how the system can be abused. MPs who have spouses outside politics and are the family breadwinner have to make their allowances stretch, so MPs married to one another should not get double.
Office expenses
Westminster secretary/assistant to be paid directly by Commons, as will any incidental office expenses. This has been agreed in a Commons vote. Constituency office expenses to be paid by the Fees Office, up to agreed limit, only on receipt of invoices.
Ban the £10,000 communications allowance
It is not necessary for this large amount of taxpayers' money to be spent on glossy brochures and newsletters for MPs to tell their constituents how great they are. This payment also favours the incumbent against any challenging candidate at elections.
Publish all claims online, regularly
Retrospective claims should be available under the Freedom of Information Act, after approval, as they are now. (The Tories began on Friday to publish live updates of the Shadow Cabinet's expenses.) Addresses should not be published but be open for examination by journalists and other legitimate enquiries to monitor any incidents of "flipping" second homes.
Set up a scrutiny panel for all claims
The Green Book of rules needs to be strengthened to enforce all of the new allowances above. The Treasury or an independent body should carry out an annual audit and monitor the work of the Fees Office. All parties should demonstrate to the new body that they are carrying out regular checks on MPs. Mr Cameron has set up a scrutiny panel for his own party, starting with the Shadow Cabinet.
MPs who refuse to pay money back must be expelled and face deselection
Those MPs who have had the whip removed, or are suspended from their party, should be forced to go through reselection if their candidacy for the next election has already been approved. There are still some MPs, including cabinet ministers, who have gained from "flipping" their second homes but have not paid money back.
Honourable Ladies and Gentleman?
Saints
Martin Salter
Labour MP for Reading West has not claimed anything for a second home since 2001. He travels mainly by train, costing £6,413 in fares last year. He claimed for £222 in staff travel last year, and just £66 the year before. He commutes from Reading to London every day.
Geoffrey Robinson
The millionaire ex-minister has more than one property, but does not charge the taxpayer for it, and has claimed nothing on second home allowance during the period that expense claims have been released. Handed receipts to local paper, who could find nothing questionable in them.
Kelvin Hopkins
Labour MP for Luton North lives in the same street as colleague Margaret Moran, who claimed £22,500 on second home allowance to treat dry rot. He commutes from his constituency to Westminster every day. "I frankly didn't know that all those things were possible within the rules,' he said last week.
Philip Hollobone
Kettering Tory is the cheapest MP in Westminster, costing £47,737 in addition to his salary, over £100,000 below the highest claimant. Claims close to the maximum for the second home allowance, but keeps other costs low - staffing costs last year were £400, while he spent £71 on stationery and £435 on stamps.
Philip Dunne
Tory MP for Ludlow has a second home in London, but does not claim for it because it is "not the right thing". Has claimed nothing for a second home since being elected in 2005. Last year he claimed £130 for staff travel and £232 for family travel.
David Howarth
Cambridge Lib Dem MP claimed nothing on his second home allowance between 2004 and 2008. In 2007, he had one of the lowest expenses portfolios of all MPs, coming 634th out of 646, costing the taxpayer £98,709. Travels to and from Cambridge every day because it "keeps him in touch".
Sinners
Elliot Morley
Claimed expenses of more than £16,000 for a mortgage which had already been paid off. The ex-agriculture minister, continued claiming for the mortgage interest on his constituency home for more than 18 months after the loan had been repaid. Suspended from the Parliamentary Labour Party following the revelations.
Margaret Moran
Claimed £22,500 for dry rot treatment at a house 100 miles away from her Luton constituency – which she owns with her partner - days after nominating it as her second home. The Labour backbencher insists she acted within the rules but has agreed to repay the money.
David Heathcoat-Amory
Tory grandee submitted receipts for hundreds of sacks of horse manure used by his gardener. Mr Heathcoat-Amory submitted 19 claims totalling £388.80 over a three-year period to 2007. The highest bill was for £45. He has claimed thousands of pounds to maintain his garden, including services like mowing and watering.
Alan and Ann Keen
Husband and wife, both Labour MPs, claimed almost £40,000 a year on a central London flat although their family home was within 10 miles. The two MPs claimed £55 a week for cleaning and charged the taxpayer £50 for a service call to reconfigure the sound on home cinema system.
Andrew Mackay
Resigned as David Cameron's Commons aide over "unacceptable" expenses claims. The Bracknell MP apologised "profusely" after it emerged that he and his wife – fellow MP Julie Kirkbride - effectively had no main home but two second homes, and were using public funds to pay for both of them.
Douglas Hogg
Former Conservative Cabinet minister included claims for the cost of having the moat cleared, piano tuned, moles treated, bees removed and stable lights fixed at his country manor house. Employed a full-time gardener and "lady" to keep house at the estate, parts of which date back to the 13th century.
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Comments
Incidentally, I see that Mackay says that the Fees Office approved his arrangements. So far, there has been no rebuttal of this claim! Could it be that the Fees Office realised that they could still have claimed the amount that they did by following the idea outlined above - and therefore thought that all was ok? I would love to know.
"Addresses should not be published but be open for examination by journalists and other legitimate enquiries to monitor any incidents of "flipping" second homes."
Why not as they are already in the public domain as the names of candidates are published as part of the Parliamentary election process in the UK anyway, as the ministry of justice document confirms;
http://www.justice.gov.uk/consultat
As for the suggestions that this can be seen as a saints and sinners issues completely misses the point, even those who did not make dubious claims sat by while their colleagues did and were complicit in such arrangements.
When Elizabeth Filkin tried to investigate these issues years ago, she was hounded from office and the 'saints' sat silent as this took place. They also sat silent as the Speaker spent tens of thousands of pounds tying to block any revelations of MP's expenses being revealed, so they cannot be considered innocent parties.
Nobody should be eligible for election as an MP until they have at least 10 years of work experience supported by income tax records.
Rule No 12
Anyone found to have an alliance or belong to a foreign political organisation which imposes their conditions in any form and seeks to promote their aims on any prospective candidate; should be banned from fighting an election. Any MP found to have a secret alliance with a foreign body must be removed with immediate effect.
I suggest that Parliament must de dissolved immediately and a general election called. The new Government MUST tear up all laws passed with the life of the past Parliament and have them re examined and voted on again by MP's we have considered to be honest enough to do so. Only then can we be sure that these people haven't landed us in a bigger pile of doodoo than they have put themselves in.
The Parties' machinery is also suspect for producing the kin and candidate for this cosily incestuous-like Westminster Club.
It would appear that, we need an independent regulator, to be accountable for surveillance of Parliamentary practice and procedure.
Also a must, is to greatly reduce the number of MPs in the House--quality not quantity is required. As there are now MEPs, and more and more NGOs, doing a greater deal of their administrative work, it should be obvious that, we need fewer MPs.
There can be no satisfaction to learn, in how much contempt the general public has been held, by these dilettanti of Political Correctness.
Taxpayers have been forced to become property speculators, without their knowledge or consent and with no hope of a return on their 'investment'. Paying politician's mortgage interest out of our taxes when property prices were booming was just handing them free money. Until very recently they were laughing like drains at us mere mortals who have struggled to pay ours out of TAXED income and have enough left to put food on the table and petrol in the car(if we have one).
All second-home 'allowances' must be abolished. Mps should use hotel accommodation on a rotating basis, so that rooms are always available. Like us, they knew the requirements of the job when they signed up. My company employs only me - not my family. So why are we pandering to them? Staying away from home is part of their job. Get used to it!
1) Susan Boyle - Future Star
2) Joanna Lumley - Actor and Activist
3) John Denham - Labour MP
4) Graham Gooch - Former Cricketer
5) Geoffrey Boycott - Former Cricketer
6) David Beckham - Footballer ( alas he can't count - Sorry)
7) Rowan Williams - Man of the Cloth
All of the above are as straight as they come; and are not bent; and have not signed up with any foreign body pledging allegiance to their agenda.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoN3EVHo
As a liberty loving person.
ID cards.
Surveilence.
Incompetence.
Corruption.
The condescending attitude of the "MORON".
Lack of accountability.(They work for lobbies, rich corporations, and the EU, not us)
Its payback time
Rot you B******s
This is not just about crooked MPs but about the bankrupt parliamentary system of government, which is no longer fit for purpose. The Queen has been telling Brown the political facts of life. She is deeply worried. She should be. The ancient system is no longer able to subjugate its people. The press could not be gagged and has acted to bring forth the truth which the present system has increasingly denied us. People are now being motivated and organized by a medium the monarchy and its government cannot control - the internet. People are filled with hate and disgust at greedy banks and greedier politicians. They want change. REAL change. The Parliamentary Boy's Club must be consigned to history and replaced by a new democratic system which truly speaks for the people.
There is revolution in the air. If 100,000 people chose to organize and march on Parliament, no "anti-terror" law would stop them. Think on that, Mr Brown.
Then open meetings should take place to achieve selection. Existing MPs could compete should they wish.
Hopefully this process would produce candidates who have spent at least 20 years post education in a serious job of work, whether as bricklayers, doctors, van drivers or schoolteachers.
There must be an end to having candidates in their 20s with zero experience of the struggle to put bread on the table .
We would be much much better governed as well than we have been this last 20 years.
Look at the contrast between a real MP such as Barbara Castle and the embarrassment of a moron who replaced her - Jack ' accountancy is not my strongest suit' Straw - whose only experience was student politics and carrying Barbara Castle's handbag before he inherited her seat.
The lot must be cleared out, bag and baggage.
OPEN PRIMARIES NOW!!!
Will the Independent campaign for this - the only effective way to both punish the guilty and return OUR Parliament to the people.