MPs facing ban on mortgage claims

According to a BBC report, Sir Christopher Kelly, chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, will recommend MPs should in future have to rent if they require a second home.

Sir Christopher is also said to be calling for a reduction in the number of MPs who are eligible to claim the second homes allowance.

Currently, only central London MPs are excluded from claiming for a second home, but under the proposals any MP with a constituency in "reasonable commuting distance" of Westminster will have to meet their own accommodation costs.

As has previously been reported, he was also said to be calling for a ban on MPs employing members of their families paid for out of public funds.

The BBC said he was advising his reforms should be phased in over five years in order to enable sitting MPs to adjust to the new arrangements, although some backbenchers warned that there could still be resistance,

However, Labour MP John Mann, who has been at the forefront of demands for the system to be reformed, said that MPs could not afford to reject the changes, however much they disliked them.

"There will be some resistance I am sugre and people will think some of it is unfair and they may be right in that, but that's not the point," he said. "I don't think anyone can go into the next election by trying to split hairs and not accept what's there.

Meanwhile, the Daily Telegraph reported that MPs who "flipped" their second homes will escape punishment in the expenses review. A request by Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg for a more detailed audit of their claims was refused.

Some politicians changed the property which was designated as their second home, either to claim more expenses for things such as refurbishment, or to avoid paying capital gains tax on a sale. The newspaper said Speaker John Bercow, himself accused of deliberately avoiding capital gains tax, decided that a wider review would take too long.