Phillip Mawer, parliamentary commissioner for standards, has called for radical reform to the way
MPs claim expenses.
Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, said that a «culture of abuse» had developed among
MPs claiming expenses.
Not exact matches
His «modest»
expenses put him in the bottom 20 per cent of
claiming MPs.
The decision to allow over 50
MPs to escape revealing details about their landlords is prompting
claims of another
expenses cover - up.
David Cameron could lose one of his prized four female Cabinet ministers if
MPs condemn culture secretary Maria Miller over her
expenses claims
This year the biggest scalp from the dodgy
expenses claims MPs made in the noughties was Denis MacShane, the former Europe minister, who got six months behind bars for his deliberately fraudulent
claims.
This category is not analysed separately here since the vast majority of
MPs file no related
claims and the average
expense is only 112 GBP.
Its draconian approach to
expenses claims has left it deeply unpopular with
MPs and has not stopped negative news stories about
MPs»
expenses continuing to emerge regularly.
MPs can
claim travel
expenses for journeys «which are necessarily incurred in the performance of the MP's parliamentary functions» (Section 9.2 of «The Scheme»).
«
MPs have been forced to borrow money from their parents because the Commons
expenses watchdog is trying to «screw them into the ground», a Tory backbencher
claimed yesterday.
In December 2010, it emerged that Harman was amongst 40
MPs who had secretly repaid wrongly
claimed expenses between 2008 and 2010.
The government wants changes in place by July - the same month all
MPs»
expenses claims, with receipts, dating back to 2004 are due to be published after a long Freedom of Information battle.
The period covered by the latest receipts came at a time when
MPs knew that at least some details of their
expenses claims were to be published under Freedom of Information rules.
The Prime Minister has told
MPs he thought it was right to allow Maria Miller «the chance to get on with her job» following the controversy over her
expenses claims.
MPs justified themselves in the
expenses scandal by protesting that they hadn't broken a rule; maybe they didn't need to
claim for a second house but doing so was allowed and therefore no wrong was perpetrated.
David Cameron has reiterated his support for Culture Secretary Maria Miller after she was forced to apologise to
MPs over a report into her
expenses claims.
On the day letters are sent out to
MPs raising questions over
expenses claims, a report by the Commons standards and privileges committee orders former home secretary Jacqui Smith to apologise for breaching rules on second home
expenses.
Newsnight's David Grossman looks at the revelations in the latest
MPs expenses claims which have been released by the Commons.
Douglas Hogg, the former Conservative cabinet minister who played a notable part in the
MPs»
expenses scandal after it was alleged that he had
claimed money for the clearing of the moat at his country house in Lincolnshire, has emerged as a frontrunner to win a hereditary place in the House of Lords.
Culture Secretary Maria Miller is facing fresh questions about her
expenses claims after it was reported that she stopped
claiming a second home allowance at around the time
MPs were asked to sign a declaration that they would pay tax on any such property when it was sold.
The government has tried to turn the tide of the
expenses scandal by creating a new independent body to scrutinise
MPs»
claims.
I can't recall exactly which
MPs flipped their mortgages or who
claimed for a duck house on their
expenses.
Three former
MPs seeking to avoid a criminal trial over their
expenses claims have received a setback - but still been allowed to appeal to the supreme court.
I genuinely feel quite bad about this as the bill often runs to a couple of hundred pounds, if not more (as it's a party event,
MPs and staff can't
claim it back on parliamentary
expenses).
MPs» personal
expenses claims remained broadly flat but expenditure on staffing budgets jumped upwards.
He called on the House of Commons to change the rules whereby
MPs do not have to submit receipts for
expenses claims below # 250.
A total of 44
MPs had their
expenses claims rejected in the final two months of 2010, the parliamentary watchdog has revealed.
Fewer
MPs would cost us less - with fewer politicians
claiming expenses.
The scandal lifted the lid on the vast
expenses claims made by all 646
MPs.
Parliament will introduce a new auditing unit for
expenses and also plans to bring forward the publication of details of
MPs»
claims.
Correspondence seen by The Daily Telegraph suggests that some of the
MPs have been
claiming for the country homes for many years, stretching back to when receipts were not necessary for parliamentary
expenses.
Over the past four days, the Telegraph has published a series of articles detailing questionable
expense claims made by
MPs from all political parties, including members of the Cabinet and shadow cabinet.
Of
MPs with controversial
expense claims, he tells the letters» readers that «I don't care if they were within the rules — they were wrong.»
In May and June 2009 revelations of
MPs»
expenses claims caused a major scandal and loss of confidence by the public in the integrity of
MPs, [7] as well as causing the first forced resignation of the Speaker in 300 years.
In future,
MPs should only be able to
claim for rent or hotel costs, while the
expenses scheme should only cover council tax, utility bills, telephone line rental and calls, security, contents insurance, and removals at the beginning and end of a tenancy.
The aftermath of the controversy has seen the Commons vote through a num - ber of changes already, such as stopping outer London
MPs claiming for second homes, getting
MPs to publish all receipts to back up all
expense claims, and making public full details of second jobs, which has already begun.
This extra expenditure was made without any supplementary budget from the two embattled
MPs and their districts have complained that nothing can be shown for the massive
expenses claimed by the
MPs.
As Sam Coates observes, the new system of
claiming expenses ironically means «the new generation of
MPs is paying for the crimes of the last.»
Three former Labour
MPs and a peer seeking to avoid facing a criminal trial over their
expenses claims will have their parliamentary privilege defence tested by the high court today.
The Queen should call a snap election to clean up parliament in the wake of the row over
MPs»
expenses, it was
claimed today.
Ms Harman was revealing the government's plans for cleaning up Parliament in the wake of public anger over
MPs»
expenses claims.
The full list of what
MPs claimed for on their
expenses, as revealed to date by the Daily Telegraph.
The Daily Telegraph has obtained details of
MPs»
expenses claims over the past four years which it has published.
Response: The work and pensions minister's spokesman said Ms Ussher «fully supports» the review into
MPs»
expenses claims and believed it was right that
MPs expenses»
claims should be published.
If it had been left to
MPs to publish their sanitised list of
expenses claims in July, we would not have had any idea which of them were up to that particular ploy.
«An investigation will be conducted into
claims submitted under the following areas of the third and fourth editions of the
MPs» scheme of business costs and
expense - accommodation expenditure, travel and subsistence,» he said in a statement.
Iain Duncan Smith has offered tentative support for a proposal to end the right of
MPs to regulate their own affairs, warning that the continuing focus on
expenses because of the row over Maria Miller's housing
claims is «eating away at the credibility of parliament».
And he will not
claim any further
expenses until Sir Christopher Kelly's Committee on Standards in Public Life produces its report in
MPs» pay and perks.
Mr Cameron told the Lib Dem leader not to «put himself on a pedestal» over
MPs»
expenses, after Mr Clegg repeated his
claim that politicians from «both of the old parties» had not been held to account for flipping their second home designations to maximise their income from allowances.
In a shocking twist on the scandal surrounding
MPs» outrageous
expenses claims, onetime Tory whip Gray moaned he was # 60 down on the deal after buying three poppy tributes to Britain's fallen heroes to place at war memorials in his North Wiltshire constituency.