The Liberal Democrat policy on MPs' expenses (Hammersmith and Fulham Liberal Democrats)

Hammersmith and Fulham Liberal Democrats <info@hflibdems.org.uk>

The Liberal Democrat policy on MPs' expenses

May 15, 2009 6:52 PM
Originally published by Twickenham & Richmond Liberal Democrats

telegraph Nick Clegg's proposals on expenses:

On 9th April 2009, Nick Clegg set out proposals for urgent reform of the rules on MP expenses, based on the following principles:

1) Taxpayers have a right to know how their money is being spent;

2) All expenses have to be justified on the basis of enabling MPs to do their job;

3) Reform should not increase, and should ideally reduce, the total cost of politics to the taxpayer.

The proposals include:

Personal additional accommodation expenditure should be restricted to rental agreements,utility bills, and council tax; Payment of personal accommodation expenditure should be on the basis of the production of bills and rental agreement only; Designation of first and second homes should be independently approved.

The Liberal Democrat Record on MPs' Expenses:

On 3rd July 2008 an unholy alliance of Labour and Conservative MPs voted down a number of proposals from the cross-party Members Estimates Committee (MEC) for tightening up MPs' expenses and allowances.

The proposals were supported by all the Lib Dems, but 146 Labour MPs, 21 Conservatives and 2 independents voted to reject this toughening up of the expenses rules.

Among the recommendations rejected were:

Robust external audit by outside professional teams for quarter of MPs each year (replaced by internal audit proposal);
Putting audit for MPs on same basis as for other public bodies;
Reducing the receipt threshold from £25 to zero so that all claims, however small, would have had to be backed by receipts.

No Lib Dem MP voted against it. The following day Nick Clegg committed the Lib Dems to unilaterally introducing the recommendations of the MEC.

The Liberal Democrat Record on Freedom of Information:

In the 2006-7 session, senior Conservative MP David Maclean, a former chief whip for the party, introduced a private member's bill, the Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill, which would have exempted both Houses of Parliament from the scope of the Freedom of Information Act. The effect would have been to remove any obligation for details of MPs' expenses to be made public.

On 20th April 2007 the Bill was 'talked out' by Lib Dem MP Norman Baker, with assistance from Simon Hughes and a handful of MPs from other parties. On 18th May 2007 it came back and was voted through by Labour and Conservative MPs.

All Lib Dem speakers, including spokesman Simon Hughes, spoke against the Bill and the party's then leader, Ming Campbell urged MPs of all parties to reject it. (http://tinyurl.com/foibill). Thankfully the high profile campaigning against the Bill paid dividends and the Bill ultimately fell because not one peer was willing to sponsor it in the House of Lords.

***

From Nick Clegg's letter to Gordon Brown on 14 May

"This has been a terrible week for British politics. Days of revelations about expenses claims have caused immense damage to the standing of all MPs and Parliament itself. It is now vital that we act as swiftly as possible to draw a line under these events, clean up the expenses system and begin to restore public confidence"