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| MPs vote to change expenses rules | |
| (19 minutes later) | |
| MPs have rejected a Conservative attempt to stop them spending up to £24,000 a year of taxpayers' money on furnishing their second homes. | |
| Instead they backed a government move to reimburse "reasonable costs" of up to £2,400. | Instead they backed a government move to reimburse "reasonable costs" of up to £2,400. |
| Ministers want the National Audit Office to oversee the system of allowances and to judge what is reasonable for MPs to spend. | |
| Earlier this month MPs voted to keep their £24,000 second home allowances. | Earlier this month MPs voted to keep their £24,000 second home allowances. |
| Shadow Commons leader Theresa May said the change amounted to replacing the "John Lewis list" of household goods MPs' can claim with an "Ikea list". | |
| The Tories' motion, which was rejected by 295 votes to 238, called for tighter auditing and an end to payments for furniture and household goods from April next year, in view of "growing public concern". | |
| The government measure backed the scrapping of the list but provided instead for reasonable costs to be capped at 10% of the existing additional costs allowance in any one year. |