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More MPs' expenses to be revealed MPs' expenses plan 'outrageous'
(about 2 hours later)
MPs would have to publish more details of their expenses claims - including for mortgage, rent and bills on their second homes - under government plans. A proposal to publish MPs' expenses without releasing receipts has been criticised as "outrageous".
Commons leader Harriet Harman said she wanted the public to be confident there were "clear rules" governing expenses. Freedom of Information (FOI) campaigner Heather Brooke, who won a fight to get 14 MPs' claims published in full, said it effectively changed the FOI Act.
Expenses have been published under nine basic headings but the new rules would see a bigger breakdown of 26 headings. Commons authorities had said they would publish all MPs' claims and receipts in October but the deadline was missed.
They have been scrutinised since Tory MP Derek Conway was reprimanded for his use of allowances to pay his son. Commons leader Harriet Harman told MPs of plans to break down claims into 26 headings without mentioning receipts.
He was suspended from the Commons last February for ten days and was ordered to repay £13,161 after being reprimanded for employing his son as a £11,000 researcher, when he was a full-time university student. A spokesman for her office confirmed that if MPs approved the measures next week, the receipts would not be published.
No receipts 'Really outrageous'
The months that followed saw Freedom of Information battles over MPs' expenses, the publication of the so-called "John Lewis list" against which MPs' claims are measured and a Commons review of the system. Ms Brooke told the BBC: "This is the problem with the Parliamentary system - if they don't like the law, they can just change it, unlike the rest of us."
In the end MPs voted to keep their second homes allowance and rejected external auditing, but agreed to limit the amount they spend on furnishings to £2,400 a year. By introducing changes to the publication of expenses as a statutory instrument, the government was effectively changing the Freedom of Information act, she said.
We want to make sure that the public have confidence that there are clear rules and they know what is going on Harriet Harman "It's a way to change the law without having a public debate," she said.
Ms Harman told MPs on Thursday the government would bring forward plans to give the public "more information than they ever have before". We want to make sure that the public have confidence that there are clear rules and they know what is going on Harriet HarmanCommons leader
The old system saw MPs publish, for example, an overall figure for office running costs - the new version requires a greater breakdown including claims for telephone calls and bills. "I think it's just really outrageous."
Last year the Commons lost a Freedom of Information battle - brought by Ms Brooke and two journalists - and was ordered to publish claims and receipts of 14 MPs, which it did in May.
It had been expected that a detailed breakdown of the expenses of all MPs, dating back to 2004, would be released last autumn.
Ms Brooke said the Commons authorities had refused several of her FOI requests on the basis that all information would be published in October.
But the deadline passed without publication and officials complained that the process of scanning and redaction, estimated to cost £950,000, was proving more complex than anticipated.
'John Lewis list'
Announcing the new plans on Thursday, Ms Harman did not mention receipts or the Freedom of Information cases.
She told MPs they would give the public "more information than they ever have before" but said people had to be given the information in an "affordable and proportionate" way.
The old system saw MPs publish, for example, an overall figure for office running costs while the new version requires a greater breakdown including claims for telephone calls and bills.
Their second home allowance claims would be broken down into mortgage interest claims, rent, hotel costs, council tax payments and "fixtures, fittings and furnishings" and repair cost claims, among others.Their second home allowance claims would be broken down into mortgage interest claims, rent, hotel costs, council tax payments and "fixtures, fittings and furnishings" and repair cost claims, among others.
Ms Harman told MPs: "We want to make sure that the public have confidence that there are clear rules and they know what is going on."Ms Harman told MPs: "We want to make sure that the public have confidence that there are clear rules and they know what is going on."
But MPs will not be required to produce receipts. In May 2008 the High Court overruled the Commons and ordered the publication of 14 MPs' claims, complete with receipts, after a lengthy Freedom of Information battle. MPs' expenses have been scrutinised since Tory MP Derek Conway was reprimanded for his use of allowances to pay his son, who was a full-time university student at the time.
He was suspended from the Commons last February for ten days and was ordered to repay £13,161.
The months that followed saw Freedom of Information battles over MPs' expenses, the publication of the so-called "John Lewis list" against which MPs' claims are measured, and a Commons review of the system.
In the end MPs voted to keep their second homes allowance and rejected external auditing, but agreed to limit the amount they spend on furnishings to £2,400 a year.