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Kelly report into MPs expenses to be published

The long-awaited review is expected to call for the end of MPs claiming mortgage payments and employing family members.

04 November 2009 06:01 GMT

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Kelly report into MPs expenses to be published

The report into MPs expenses by Sir Christopher Kelly will be published on Wednesday.

It is expected to demand decisive cuts in the cash MPs can claim.

The eagerly-awaited Kelly Report is also thought to call for an end to claims for mortgage payments, as well as a ban on the use of taxpayers' money to employ relatives and the abolition of second home allowances for MPs who live within an hour's commuting time of Westminster.

Travel, communications and food claims are also thought likely to be in line for deep cuts, under plans which Prime Minister Gordon Brown and other party leaders are committed to implementing.

The controversial £10,400 annual communications allowance is expected to be recommended for abolition. And a "golden handshake" resettlement grant worth up to £64,766 to MPs who are defeated or retire at an election is expected to be significantly reduced.

Although all the main party leaders are committed to supporting the recommendations of Sir Christopher's Committee on Standards in Public Life - unless they are patently unreasonable - reports of the measures he is likely to propose has already sparked anger from some MPs.

Conservative MP Roger Gale said Sir Christopher was not "living in the real world", while veteran backbencher Sir Nicholas Winterton said he appeared to be "determined to hit MPs on the head and undermine them".

Sir Christopher's inquiry into the Westminster allowance system was announced in March, but it was thrust into the centre of the biggest political firestorm of recent years when the Daily Telegraph newspaper began publishing leaked details of MPs' claims in May.

Mr Brown has said he hoped the Kelly Report would draw a line under the old, discredited expenses system and create a new framework which met the tests of transparency, accountability and value for taxpayers' money.

MPs will not be given a vote on the report's recommendations, which will be implemented by Ipsa, a new body established by the Government's Parliamentary Standards Act, which was rushed on to the statute book this summer.

Under the Act, Ipsa's chairman and board members are not chosen by MPs, but selected through an independent and open competition similar to that used to appoint members of the Electoral Commission.


 

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  1. Default avatar

    1. 04 Nov 2009 09:37Steve M said

    It is no wonder that the current crop of dishonourable members are spitting feathers at the outcome of the review as most of them know that their Parliamentary career is coming to an end and the pot of gold that would otherwise have been available to them under the old system, has been emptied.

    I find it ironic that Roger Gale MP has said that Sir Christopher Kelly was not living in the real world. A minority of MPs have been sitting on the gravy train heading there for the last few years !

    The electorate will punish offenders like Hazel Blears and Jacqui Smith at the ballot box and the Labour Party knows it.

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  2. Default avatar

    2. 04 Nov 2009 21:59phoenix said

    I can only endorse Steve M's comments. These MPs who have been abusing the expenses allowances over all these years had start preparing to be "dumped" into the real world. The country will see to that.

    Sir Christopher, should you find yourself short of a hammer, I have a spare one in my shed.

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  3. Default avatar

    3. 04 Nov 2009 23:33phoenix said

    Sorry, missed out "better" between "had" and "start".

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