Taylor to step down at election

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Conservative Ian Taylor is the latest MP to announce he is to step down in the wake of the expenses scandal.

The Esher and Walton MP had faced local criticism over having a second home in London rather than commuting from Surrey to Westminster.

He said there were a number of reasons for stepping down, including the belief "an MP should seek to be around locally more than around Westminster".

"This debases the whole system... and is not one I wish to endorse," he said.

"It is clear... that many constituents have little concept of what an MP does or where his attention should be focused," he wrote.

"There has been some criticism of me recently for my failure to 'commute' rather than on the substance of whether I hold views or take actions on key matters on behalf of constituents."

'Undermine'

The MP insisted, in a resignation letter to his constituency party, that he commutes "most weeks", spending Friday, Saturday and Sunday "in and around the constituency".

Mr Taylor, 64, also said he would be past retirement age at the time of the next election and highlighted a shift in public attitudes towards MPs as reasons for stepping down.

"We need to be more open and transparent to rebuild trust, as well as explaining better the duties of Parliamentarians."

Mr Taylor said that as someone who had shown an "independent streak" - he is a pro-European and opposed the Iraq war - "I know it is not career enhancing".

He said he also opposed the view that being an MP should be regarded as a full-time job.

"I fear that the rise of the professional MP will further undermine the quality of parliamentary debate and certainly be counter-productive if we are looking for free-thinking candidates," he said.

Mr Taylor, who was first elected in 1987, chaired David Cameron's task force on science and technology policy options and said he "looked forward to cheering from the sidelines as he enters Downing Street next year".