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MPs' claims for furnishings capped at £2,400
Joe Murphy, Political Editor16 Jul 2008
MPs are to be allowed to spend £2,400 a year on household furnishings and appliances including wide-screen TVs, the Government announced today.
The new ceiling is a curb on the current system which allows them to buy luxuries from a £ 24,000 allowance for running a second home.
But it represents a massive watering down of the proposals made by Speaker Michael Martin's all-party committee on expenses, which called for an end to MPs acquiring personal household goods at the taxpayers' expense. The decision to revisit the lavish Westminster expenses system comes after derision and anger at a vote on the issue two weeks ago.
Critics said that vote ignored the key recommendat ions of the Speaker's committee and cherrypicked sections that inflated MPs' earnings, including a seven per cent rise in the London pay supplement.
Gordon Brown missed the last vote, though some of his key aides and allies in the Labour whips office ensured it went through. MPs regarded today's announcements as an attempt by No 10 to regain moral authority on the issue. At Prime Minister's Questions today, Mr Brown said the reforms, which include external auditing of MPs' claims, would ensure transparency and stop fraud.
David Cameron said it was too little. He argued that MPs should not claim for any furnishings. The Tory leader claims £20,000 a year in mortgage interest payments on a second home.
Labour appeared to have thrown together the new proposals in a rush. Initially they said they were abolishing the so-called John Lewis list of acceptable items. But it then emerged that all those goods could continue to be claimed, albeit to a total of no more than £2,400 a year. Shadow leader of the Commons Theresa May said the fudge meant MPs would simply "replace the John Lewis list with an Ikea list".
Mr Cameron won a battle against his backbenchers today when most of them agreed to his demand that they publish extra details of their expenses. The rebels included Nicholas and Ann Winterton, the MPs accused of sleaze for claiming expenses for a house they owned outright, Bill Cash and former minister Sir Paul Beresford.
