Cheltenham Liberal Democrats

MARTIN URGES 'DRASTIC' REFORM OF MP's ALLOWANCES

CHELTENHAM MP Martin Horwood today met the Members' Estimates Committee of the House of Commons to urge radical reform of the way MPs' allowances are handled. Last year Martin appeared on the Channel Four 'Dispatches' programme that highlighted many discrepancies between best practice in the private sector and the way money is handled in Parliament. He was one of four Liberal Democrat MPs to lobby the committee today, including campaigning Lewes MP Norman Baker.

'I was astonished by some of the practices I found in the House of Commons when I was elected and how much they differed from what I had known in business and in the charity sector. The idea that I could apparently spend hundreds of pounds a month of taxpayers' money on food without ever providing a receipt for it was one of the best but there were many others. And the whole thing was cloaked in secrecy so public suspicion and cynicism was almost guaranteed. I actually think most MPs work hard and try their best to stick to sometimes confusing rules but the whole way the system is designed makes scandal likely. It needs drastic reform.'

Martin is already sending summary details of all the allowances he has claimed to all voters in Cheltenham in a leaflet distributed along with his new annual report to constituents. 'When I met the Committee, I argued for more openness in particular. Many older MPs are still very nervous about all this but frankly openness is the best possible defence against abuse of the system. There won't be any more Derek Conways if we're all open about what we're claiming for.'

Martin argued specifically for:

• Complete public access to all details of MPs expenses and expenditure, with very few exceptions such as personal addresses and individual staff salaries. It is a waste of public money fighting off freedom of information requests for things that the public have every right to know.

• Removal of office rents, office IT and staff salaries from the personal 'allowance' system altogether. These should all be managed as they are in business, with reasonable budgets agreed in advance based on considerations like square footage of office space needed or the length of service of staff. They might then vary between MPs, that's only fair when costs really do vary. Office rents in Cheltenham really are higher than, say, Cornwall or Scotland and staff should be paid increments if they have stayed in a job and gained in experience and value to the team.

• Reform of allowances relating to MPs' second homes and in particular the ending of the system whereby MPs can claim against mortgage interest as well as rent. Mortgage payments may not cost the taxpayer any more but in a rising housing market MPs can gain make huge personal gains from being helped to buy a second home. That should stop.

• Tougher sanctions against the very few MPs like Derek Conway who are caught seriously abusing the system. In business, gross misconduct means you lose your job, not just get suspended for a few days.

• All daily expenses such as subsistence to be within a daily allowance and all backed up by receipts.

Martin strongly argued against removing any part of the personal expenses regime and giving MPs a pay rise instead. 'I told the committee that would be the worst possible response to current criticism', he said 'not least because it would be a PR disaster for Parliament. To vote ourselves a huge pay rise at a time when public trust in politicians is already at rock bottom would be appalling'.

The one area in which he argued for a more generous regime was in staff budgets where he told the Committee he could easily find work for two more staff on top of the existing four. 'I don't actually think our staffing budgets are adequate. My own staff in Cheltenham and in Westminster work incredibly hard for long hours and not much reward compared to their equivalents in the private or public sectors. The volume of casework being generated by letter, by email and over the internet has added to the traditional surgeries and the workload is now colossal', he said. Martin employs three staff in his Cheltenham office and one researcher who works mainly on environmental issues at Westminster.