A missive from the Conservatives to local party activists.
Now it’s not a perfect solution, and I’d still like to see at least one Conservative MP retire to their study with a glass of whisky and a pistol, for form’s sake if nothing else.
But, it’s a start.
David Cameron and the Conservative Party are today announcing a series of measures on the issue of expenses paid to Members of Parliament.
IMMEDIATE ACTIONS
Between now and the launch of Sir Christopher Kelly’s report, we will implement the following steps:
Today, Shadow Cabinet members have agreed to pay back expenses claims that have caused concern.
All claims made to the Fees Office will be published immediately online. This will start straightaway for the Shadow Cabinet. Arrangements will be put in place for Frontbenchers and all Conservative MPs as soon as possible.
No Conservative MP will be allowed to re-designate their first and second homes for the purposes of the Additional Costs Allowance (ACA) without approval by the Chief Whip. This will deliver an immediate ban on so-called ‘flipping’. Any decision to change designation, (which would have to be for genuine family reasons) must be published immediately with a full explanation.
From now on, anyone selling a home for which mortgage interest is currently paid for by the ACA must confirm they will pay Capital Gains Tax on it.
An immediate ban on all Conservative MPs claiming furniture, other household goods and food shopping. Only rent, mortgage interest, overnight hotel bills, utility bills, service charges and council tax can be claimed by Conservative MPs from now on.
Further to all of these interim reforms we are setting up a scrutiny panel for reviewing all excessive cases and to make arrangements for repayment of public funds where appropriate.
The panel will include an independent member.
A slightly more radical approach to setting MPs expenses would be to require candidates to “bid” for their annual salary when completing their nomination papers, and to have that bid printed on the ballot paper next to their name and party. (Someone else thought of this, but I’ve lost the link).
One fundamental issue that needs to be be hammered home, is that many Members of Parliament seem to be of the opinion that in some sense they are worth the money. It was tacitly accepted that the expenses and fees procedures existed to pad parliamentary salaries up to the “proper” level.
But, ultimately, it is the market that sets the price. There are no shortage of people who want to become Member of Parliament, and MPs don’t seem to tempted to leave public office in droves to get well-paid jobs in the private sector. Supply exceeds Demand. So clearly, they’re not worth £250,000 a year which is the effective price of an MP when you add in all the office costs, expenses and gold-plated pension.
This does segue into the topic of Councillor’s allowances, as the independent review panel that is likely to be convened to set salaries for MPs is not dissimilar to the type of body that operates here in Bristol to set Councillor’s allowances. We also have a second parallel, in that the extra allowances for the Leader of the Councillor are indexed-linked to the salaries of senior civil servants, which is another proposal on the table for Parliamentary salaries.
I shall be reviewing some of my old posts on these topics. Perhaps we could trial that “bidding” approach on a local level with Councillors' allowances...
Not the greatest bit of code for embedding, but an interesting speech nonetheless.
Reconstruction, Renewal, Repair. Not bad at all. And someone's been reading up on classical rhetoric, albeit I would have gone with "Rebuild, Renew, Repair".
The fast forwarding on the flash widget is a bit iffy, so click here for the official text of the speech if you haven't got an hour spare to watch the video.
