Watchdog set to probe MPs' expenses

The Committee on Standards in Public Life said it would begin its inquiry later this year, but not report until after the next general election, and warned that reforms already agreed by MPs did not go far enough.

Chairman Sir Christopher Kelly confirmed the widely-expected investigation as pressure mounted on Employment Minister Tony McNulty after it emerged he claimed about £60,000 in Commons allowances on his parents' home.

Tory MP Greg Hands has submitted a formal complaint to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, John Lyon, who must now decide whether to launch an investigation into whether the rules were broken.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith is already under fire for claiming thousands of pounds in allowances for staying in her sister's south London home.

Sir Christopher stressed that his committee had been monitoring the issue "for some time" but the growing public attention on MPs' use of taxpayer-funded expenses has fuelled demand for an inquiry.

He said: "The changes that are due to come into effect in April are significant steps towards greater transparency and - for the first time - a proper system of audit. But these changes, by themselves, will not satisfy current concerns about the way MPs are supported to do their jobs. Nor will they restore public confidence."

Mr McNulty claimed about £60,000 in allowances since 2001 for staying in his parents' home in his Harrow constituency in north west London, even though his main home is only a few miles away in Hammersmith.

He insisted at the weekend he was acting within Commons rules although he disclosed that he had stopped claiming the allowance in January. He said he used the house, which he owns, as a base two or three days a week while working in the constituency, and slept there at weekends when he first entered Parliament.

He previously lived there with his parents before his 2002 marriage to second wife Christine Gilbert, who is now Ofsted's chief inspector of schools. After moving into her home in Hammersmith, west London, he claimed the second home allowance on the Harrow property while his parents continued to live there.