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MP mortgage claims 'to be banned' MP mortgage claims 'to be banned'
(1 day later)
MPs will be banned from claiming the cost of mortgage interest payments on second homes under proposals being put forward, sources have told the BBC. MPs would be banned from claiming the cost of mortgage interest payments on expenses and from employing relatives, under proposals by an official review.
It is understood the Kelly committee, which has been reviewing MPs' expenses, will recommend MPs will only be able to rent second homes in future. The BBC understands the inquiry into expenses will say MPs should only claim for rented homes in future but changes will be phased in over five years.
The committee is also expected to recommend MPs will not be able to employ family members in the future. It will also propose MPs living within an hour's journey of London should not be able to claim for a second home.
It is understood the changes will be phased in over five years. More than 200 MPs employ relatives and about 415 claim for mortgage payments.
'Allowances cut' The BBC's deputy political editor James Landale said he had been told the inquiry would also recommend wider cuts to the expenses regime.
Sir Christopher Kelly, who was asked by Gordon Brown to suggest proposed reforms to the discredited system of MPs' expenses, is due to publish his report on 4 November. No vote?
The BBC understands the committee will also recommend that MPs living within commuting distance of London and whose journeys take no more than an hour will not be able to claim money towards a second home. These include substantial cuts to the resettlement allowance, paid to retiring MPs, scrapping the controversial £10,400 communications allowance and the £25-a-day subsistence allowance and reducing travel costs by MPs within London.
MPs representing inner London constituencies are likely to see their allowances considerably reduced as well. Sir Christopher Kelly's independent committee on standards in public life is due to publish his report on reforms to the discredited system of MPs' expenses on 4 November.
Former Chair of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, Sir Alistair Graham, welcomes the proposals Prime Minister Gordon Brown told MPs it would be announced in a statement to the House on Wednesday and then would be given to the new independent parliamentary standards committee to implement - such a process means the recommendations were unlikely to be put to a vote of MPs.
The proposals are sure to be seen as radical and, if approved, would mean substantial changes to the way MPs conduct their lives. Earlier Mr Brown's spokesman said all the main parties had committed to accepting the proposals in full, as long as they met three tests of improving transparency, accountability and reduced costs.
The phasing-in of the reforms will be seen as an attempt to appease MPs angry about how they have been treated and fearful that their existing arrangements could be discontinued immediately. But Labour MP Sir Stuart Bell, a member of the Commons Members Estimate Committee which carried out its own review of MPs' expenses last year, said: "I don't think the House would accept any enforced redundancies of present staff."
Party leaders have indicated they will accept the committee's recommendations, barring any exceptional circumstances. He also told the BBC he accepted that future claims for mortgage interests should not be allowed but said current mortgage arrangements "cannot be disturbed".
They hope the proposals will draw a line under the expenses scandal - which has forced a host of MPs to stand down from Parliament - and assuage public anger over excessive and inappropriate claims. 'Not realistic'
Given the strength of public feeling, the BBC's political editor Nick Robinson said no senior politician would dare contradict the report. MPs will debate the proposals, he said and "have the opportunity if they so wish to amend them, bearing in mind we do accept the public's outrage at these events".
All MPs would be weighing up what the changes would mean for them and their families' finances, he added, but the reality was that they would have to accept them in full. Conservative MP Roger Gale said his wife Suzy has worked for him for 27 years and does "a very good, very hard, very long job", 60 hours a week, and was highly qualified. He said the reported proposals were "not realistic".
'Moral authority' "I've heard one comment, which I think is absolutely ludicrous, to the effect that apparently somebody living an hour's train ride from London will not be allowed to have a base in London," he said.
Labour MP John Mann said Parliament had to accept the recommendations "lock, stock and barrel" if it was to regain its "moral authority" after the damage of recent months. KEY PROPOSALS MPs to rent second homes onlyBan on MPs employing family members on Commons payrollBan on MPs close to London claiming second home allowanceAllowances for inner London MPs to be reducedChanges phased in over five years class="" href="/2/hi/uk_news/politics/8039590.stm">What MPs can claim now class="" href="/2/hi/uk_news/politics/8328734.stm">MPs' spouses to fight job ban class="" href="http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?forumID=7164&edition=2">Send us your comments
KEY PROPOSALS MPs to rent second homes onlyBan on MPs employing family members on Commons payrollBan on MPs close to London claiming second home allowanceAllowances for inner London MPs to be reducedChanges phased in over five years class="" href="/2/hi/uk_news/politics/8039590.stm">What MPs can claim now class="" href="/2/hi/uk_news/politics/8328734.stm">MPs' spouses to fight job ban "I just don't believe that Kelly lives in the real world, I don't think he knows what kind of hours we work or what kind of job we do."
"We can't pick and choose which parts of the report we like," he said. However Labour MP John Mann said Parliament had to accept the recommendations "lock, stock and barrel" if it was to regain its "moral authority" after the damage of recent months.
"We have to move decisively not to quibble about the detail but to move decisively to endorse the Kelly report and with urgency."
Fellow Labour MP Stephen Pound said he would be "absolutely amazed" if the ban on mortgage interest claims was not implemented immediately, saying it should be "good enough" for MPs to rent rooms in lodgings or to stay in hotels.Fellow Labour MP Stephen Pound said he would be "absolutely amazed" if the ban on mortgage interest claims was not implemented immediately, saying it should be "good enough" for MPs to rent rooms in lodgings or to stay in hotels.
But he said there was widespread concern about stopping the relatives of MPs working in their Commons offices, saying there would be "clear legal ramifications". But he said there would be "clear legal ramifications" if MPs were immediately banned from employing relatives: "You cannot just tear up contracts of employment like that."
"You cannot just tear up contracts of employment like that," he said. 'Rotten system'
'Great shame' Asked about the reports on Wednesday morning Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg said he looked forward to seeing the report in full and hoped it would recommend a "radical, total overhaul of this rotten system of expenses". His party has long supported an end to mortgage interest claims.
Unions representing Commons staff say they would consider legal action if the reports turn out to be true, suggesting such a move may amount to constructive dismissal and be discriminatory. The Unite union's Parliamentary staff branch has invited spouses and other relatives to a special meeting on the day the report is published.
The wife of Tory MP Roger Gale, who has worked for her husband for 26 years, said she would be consulting her lawyers if it turned out that she and other MPs' spouses would no longer be able to do so. Chairman Dan Whittler said: "Whether it is unfair dismissal or discrimination law we will offer our members whatever protection we can. Family members of MPs staff save the taxpayer money by working many hours in unpaid overtime."
Labour MP John Mann says Parliament has to accept the recommendations Some MPs have already claims in the face of public anger and others face requests for further repayments after a review of all second home claims since 2004 by Sir Thomas Legg.
"It just seems a great shame, due to a huge amount of public misconception, that we are almost being branded sleazy when we have worked very, very hard for many years," Suzy Gale told the BBC. Sir Christopher has not commented on the reports, but it is understood he briefed the Conservative and Liberal Democrat leaders along with Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell on Tuesday afternoon.
In other reaction, Sir Alistair Graham, a former chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, said he believed the transitional arrangements being suggested seemed "sensible". An independent panel which looked at Welsh Assembly Members' expenses recommended in July that AMs should not be allowed to claim towards mortgage interest and relatives should not be employed - although any existing arrangements would continue.
But he said it was important the recommendations commanded the support of the public as well as the political elite.
MPs have already repaid hundreds of thousands of pounds in expense claims even though their requests were allowed under the rules at the time and approved by the parliamentary authorities.
But MPs are facing further repayments after a review of all second home claims since 2004 by Sir Thomas Legg introduced retrospective limits for claims for gardening and cleaning.
A spokesman for the Kelly committee has not commented on the reports, but it is understood Sir Christopher briefed the Conservative and Liberal Democrat leaders along with the cabinet secretary on Tuesday afternoon.