New British MP's expenses to be made public

MPs are braced for the publication of their scaled-back expenses regime.

Parliament’s new watchdog is to announce the details of the scheme it will be administering in the aftermath of the expenses scandal.

The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa) is likely to anger many MPs, who have already protested strongly against the body’s initial proposals.

They included scrapping the “golden goodbye” of up to £65,000 for retiring MPs, and stopping MPs buying homes with mortgages subsidised by the taxpayer – forcing them to rent instead. After a consultation on those ideas earlier this year, Ipsa chairman Professor Sir Ian Kennedy will release the final details of how the new regime will work.

Ipsa was set up to overhaul the system in response to the MPs’ expenses scandal erupted last year. After that it was agreed that MPs could no longer set their own rules. Its proposals put forward in January were based in part on the recommendations of last year’s Kelly Report on MPs’ expenses by the Committee on Standards in Public Life (CSPL).

They fell foul of both MPs and the Government, however. The Members’ Allowances Committee – which represent MPs in relation to their expenses – said the measures would create “considerable financial insecurity” for MPs. It warned that they would deter those from less affluent backgrounds or with families from standing for Parliament.

In its submission to Ipsa, the Government urged Ipsa to stick with the Kelly proposals. Dozens of individual MPs also wrote to Ipsa complaining about its plans. Several complained at suggestions they should give up their right to taxpayer-funded first-class rail travel.

There is also resistance to moves to curb the number of MPs who receive funding to maintain a second home, with those living close to London expected to commute daily instead. Some say they should have their expenses scrapped altogether in return for an increase in their pay from about £65,000 now to £100,000.

However, there has also been criticism of Ipsa that it appeared to water down some of the Kelly proposals. The watchdog has suggested that MPs could be given the chance to vote on the CSPL’s recommendation that profits made on the sale of taxpayer-funded second homes be recouped.

And it has reopened the controversial issue of MPs employing members of their families, which the CSPL had said should be banned because of its potential for abuse.

Source: Press Association