MPs win right to edit receipts before expenses claims are pu

[kbo234]

Nothing like the current scandal will be allowed to happen again. It will be a criminal offence for anyone to pass such information to the press without first offering the offending documents to the MP for editing.

Doncha just luv'em.

MPs win right to edit receipts before expenses claims are published

MPs will be given the chance within days to edit receipts submitted to justify their expense claims before they are made public.

Details that identify individual suppliers, as well as any items on bills not paid for by the taxpayer, can be blacked out by MPs during the next month, Commons officials said.

MPs opposed to full publication of the receipts say that the information could be used to identify their homes and could put themselves and their families at risk. They will be invited to check receipts submitted for the past five years within days and edit out identifying details. Some plan to use the process to delay release well beyond the planned publication date this summer.

Jacqui Smith's claim for pornographic films came to light because her unedited claim – which also included a kitchen sink and a bath plug – was leaked.

The Home Secretary was plunged deeper into trouble over her allowances and expenses when the Commons published the amount that each MP claimed in the past financial year yesterday.

The figures showed that Ms Smith billed the taxpayer £22,948, close to the maximum, for her family home in Redditch, Worcestershire, during 2007-08. She justifies the cash by classifying the house as a second home, insisting that her main residence is her sister's house in London.

Ms Smith's husband, Richard Timney, who has admitted watching the films at the centre of the latest row, was the subject of a claim of £2,531 for 25 journeys from her constituency to London; MPs are allowed to claim a maximum of 30 such trips by their spouses. She also claimed £485 for eight journeys by other family members and £1,732 for 17 trips by staff. It was not clear whether any of these related to Mr Timney, who is employed as her parliamentary assistant.

Other Cabinet ministers who claimed the maximum amount to stay away from home on parliamentary business last year include Shaun Woodward, the Northern Ireland Secretary, Hazel Blears, the Communities Secretary, Liam Byrne, the Cabinet Office Minister and Geoff Hoon, the Transport Secretary.

Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader, was another of more than 150 MPs to bill the taxpayer the maximum additional costs allowance (ACA) of £23,083. David Cameron, the Conservative leader, claimed £19,626 to pay the mortgage on his Oxfordshire constituency home.

Among MPs claiming ACA cash for a second home were several husband-and-wife teams, including the Cabinet couple Ed Balls and Yvette Cooper, who together received £24,438; the Tory MPs Sir Nicholas and Ann Winterton, who got £35,112; and Alan and Ann Keen, of Labour, who claimed £38,193.

Tony McNulty, the Employment Minister, who has been at the centre of a row over his ACA claim for the outer London house where his parents live, claimed £12,600 in second home allowances in 2007-08. He said that he stopped making claims in relation to the house in Harrow in January because falling mortgage interest rates made it affordable on his MP's salary.

Details of MPs' spousal travel claims released for the first time this year showed that Julie Kirkbride and Andrew MacKay, another Conservative MP couple, together claimed £1,800 to visit each other's constituencies.

The total claimed by 646 MPs in 2007-08 was just under £93 million – about 6 per cent up on the previous year's figure of £87.6million. The largest claim in 2007-08 was made by Eric Joyce, the Labour MP for Falkirk, who received expenses and allowances totalling £187,334.

The lowest claim was made by Philip Hollobone, the Conservative MP for Kettering, who received £47,737, including only £400 for staffing costs.

All three main parties fear the political fallout from the growing public anger over MPs' expenses and allowances. Mr Cameron called for “complete transparency. Sunlight is the best disinfectant,” he said.

Gordon Brown last night wrote to Sir Christopher Kelly, the chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, asking him to speed up a review on the issue, which is currently not due to report until after the next election. In a move that could spell the end of the second-home allowance, Mr Brown also asked him to consider replacing it with a flat attendance fee.

A spokeswoman for Sir Christopher said it was likely that he would announce that the review was being brought forward today. The Prime Minister acted after a letter from Mr Clegg asking to meet him and Mr Cameron to talk about reform. “The recent scandals make it clear we cannot continue with the current system any longer,” Mr Clegg wrote.

Despite the calls for more transparency, Commons officials confirmed yesterday that MPs are about to be shown all the receipts they have submitted during the past five years. Some run to 1,500 pages, according to one senior officer who explained why MPs were being given a month to check through the information.

Some MPs fear that the leak of Ms Smith's claim may have been taken from a copy of all unedited receipts prepared before the House of Commons lost a legal attempt to block their publication.

MPs then passed special legislation making the ability to remove identifying information a condition of its release. The edited receipts will be released before MPs' leave for their summer holidays in July, Commons authorities said.

[Disco_Destroyer]

Oh goody, thats not declare earnings before the Tax Office