MPs in new dodge to keep details of expenses secret



Battle: Speaker Michael Martin who fought in the courts to stop MPs expences being published



MPs were accused of a 'new level of arrogance' last night as they launched a bid to keep secret full details of how they spend millions of pounds of taxpayers' money.

And they will further mock voters with a new rulebook allowing them to carry on squandering cash on furniture and home improvements.

With households and businesses cutting costs, the moves will be seen as more evidence that elected representatives are hopelessly out of touch.

The announcement that Ministers want to defy the High Court and block publication of receipts for MPs' expenses was buried on the day news was dominated by Government statements on Heathrow and Equitable Life.

The extraordinary move is in direct response to a High Court judgment upholding an Information Tribunal ruling that receipt-by-receipt breakdowns for how public money is spent by MPs must be published.

Speaker Michael Martin spent around £150,000 of public money unsuccessfully fighting the case.

A Parliamentary order has now been drafted to exclude MPs and peers from parts of the Freedom of Information Act. If both Houses of Parliament back it next week it could become law within 24 hours, and no receipts need be published.

Yesterday Commons Leader Harriet Harman claimed the Government-would increase transparency by raising the number of published categories under which MPs say how they used their expenses, such as travel and accommodation.

But campaigners dismissed this because without the receipts there will be no opportunity to discover exactly how the headline spending figures, which will be released on an annual basis, are made up.

MPs' expenses and allowances last year cost taxpayers £87million. Their claims are on top of their £63,291 salary.

But Westminster has been alive with rumours throughout the expenses controversy that some MPs have milked the system to such a degree that full disclosure of claims would force them to quit Parliament.

Last night there was incredulity that MPs are to use valuable time in the shortest Parliamentary year on record to protect their pampered lifestyles.

Tory Shadow Cabinet member Theresa May said: 'In the middle of a recession the last thing people expect the Government to be worrying about is how much information is available on MPs' expenses.'

Information campaigner Heather Brooke, who battled for years to have the receipts released, said the developments showed a 'new level of arrogance'.

'Just when you thought MPs had understood the need to regain public trust they do something like this,' she said. 'This shows they have not learned a thing.

'It is what you would expect from a banana republic.'

Matthew Elliott of the TaxPayers' Alliance said: 'These desperate measures will only harm Parliament's standing by making people wonder what it is that politicians have to hide.'

In a separate development, it emerged that despite promises of an end to the Westminster gravy train, MPs will still be free to use taxpayers' cash for extravagant items to furnish and upgrade second homes.

Under revised expenses rules MPs will still be entitled to pick items from the so-called 'John Lewis list', the informal guidelines on how much can be spent on home furnishings.

As now, they will be able to charge for white goods, sofas, chairs, tables, beds, cutlery and crockery, security fittings, cleaners and decoration to kit out their second homes.

Mortgage interest payments or rent for the additional residences will also be met by the taxpayer as will utility bills and council tax payments. Receipts will not need to be submitted for any items under £25.

There will also be flat-rate 'subsistence' payments of £25 per day when a 'member spends a night away from his or her main home on Parliamentary business'.