Andy Slaughter "happy" for constituents to see expenses
As the row about MPs' expenses continues, local MP Andy Slaughter says he is happy for constituents to look at his expenses claims and that he will make them available for all to see.
“I am quite happy for anyone to see my expenses,” said Slaughter, the MP for Ealing, Acton and Shepherd's Bush. “I intend to publish online and I will talk to the Commons about how and when they or I can do this. I suspect most MPs will do this now,” he added.
In an open letter to constituents, he wrote: "I entered politics to serve my community, not to make money. I have never and will never claim a penny of the second homes allowance. All of my expenses are for the running of my office to help me do my job as an MP – I claim nothing for personal use. As soon as possible the House of Commons will be publishing all MPs’ expenses, and I will place these on my website."
"MPs are paid more than £60,000 a year. I think this is quite enough. I do no other paid work than as an MP. Representing a busy London constituency takes me 70 to 80 hours a week – I do not see how you can do another job as well," he added.
In neighbouring Hammersmith and Fulham, MP Greg Hands has already invited his constituents to visit his office to see the full records of his expenses. The records on view comprise a complete unedited copy of the receipts for all of his expenses since he was elected in 2005 and include details which will be edited out when they are published in July by the Commons authorities under the Freedom of Information Act.
Slaughter appeared critical of the move. “Why is he making people go to his office? This is awkward, will not permit unlimited access and could intimidate people - it is much more open to publish online. What he is doing is a way of appearing to be open without in practice allowing free access,” he said.
On Wednesday (May 13), the Conservative Party leader called for all expenses to be made available without delay. "One thing we could do is publish expenses online in real time. MPs from all parties should do this now," David Cameron said.
Cameron also called for the £10,000 communications allowance, available to all MPs, to be axed. "The communications allowance is worth £10,000 for every MP. Taxpayers are paying so we can all tell our constituents what a fantastic job we are doing. We've all done it - it's a complete waste of money. We should scrap it now,” he said.
All MPs, apart from the 25 who represent inner London constituencies, can also claim up to £24,000 a year in allowances towards the cost of staying away from home while on parliamentary business. But inner London MPs, such as Hands, do not qualify. Instead, they get the 'London supplement' which in 2007-8 was £2,812 . Outer London MPs, such as Slaughter, can choose between the second homes allowance and the 'London supplement'. Slaughter says he has not claimed under the second homes allowance at all.
“It's a pretty empty offer from Hands (to invite constituents to view his expenses) as he, like me, doesn't claim the second homes allowance which is causing all the trouble, though in my case I am entitled but have chosen not to make any claim under it. He is simply not entitled,” said Slaughter.
A recent Evening Standard survey showed how much each London MP had claimed in 2007-8 and included communications, travel, staff and office expenses. At £137,153, Slaughter had the 20th-highest claim out of the list of 74 London MPs while Hands came 59th with a claim of £121,357. The highest London claim, £167,306, was made by Feltham and Heston MP, Ann Keen, while the lowest was £93,052, made by Ealing Southall MP, Virendra Sharma.
Over the past few days, several high-profile Labour and Conservative MPs have moved to repay money since the Daily Telegraph started publishing details of their parliamentary expense claims last week.
13 May 2009
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