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MP’s expenses

13 May 2009

If you’re like me, you’re probably holding your head in your hands over the fiasco of MP’s expenses. Whichever way you look at it, it’s bad. MPs look greedy. Parliament looks badly-run. Democracy looks tarnished.

As I write this, David Cameron has just become the first senior politician to apologise to the British people for the way their MPs have behaved over this issue. It needed to be said, too. People feel angry and betrayed, and they've got a point.

Before I became an MP I worked for a series of different firms, but none so lax as Parliament. And anyway, Westminster shouldn't just try to match a well-run business or public organisation. It needs to be better. MPs can’t get away with claiming they’ve obeyed the rules like anybody else, because they write the rules as well.

I’ve always felt that MPs shouldn’t be allowed to set their own pay and expenses. No-one else is allowed to tell their boss what they should be paid, so why should MPs be any different? We should put an independent body in charge instead. MPs would do well in some years and badly in others, and would have to take the rough with the smooth just like everybody else.

So, what have I claimed for? Well, if you’re interested I’ve displayed a summary on my website at www.johnpenroseMP.com ever since I was elected. Last year I was the second-cheapest MP in the area, but you’ll see there’s money to pay my researchers’ salaries, some travel between Weston and Westminster, running costs for my office in Weston, and for my flat near Parliament. You’ll be able to see all the individual receipts when they’re published in early July (providing the Telegraph doesn’t leak them first) and no, I’ve never bought anything off the infamous John Lewis list!