Downing Street Says » MPs’ Expenses

In reply to a question from yesterday’s briefing asking for a response to the Speaker’s statement on MPs’ expenses, the PMS told Lobby that the Prime Minister had spoken to the Speaker about the review announced yesterday, and he would be writing to him in greater detail today. As the Prime Minister said on Friday, he believed there must be greater transparency all round in the future including in relation to MPs’ expenses. But he believed that whatever changes there were to the future, this could not absolve the proper investigation of any past cases of abuse. He believed that the Speaker’s review was the right way to proceed on this issue, in a deliberative and orderly way, to establish a transparent system for the future and to deal clearly with the issues that had arisen in the past week.

Asked for more details about the Prime Minister’s conversation with the Speaker, the PMS replied that the Prime Minister called the Speaker this morning following yesterday’s statement and he would be writing in greater detail later today.

Asked to say more about what the Prime Minister was urging the Speaker to do, the PMS replied that the key point was that the Speaker’s review was the right way to proceed, and that we went about this in a deliberative and orderly way. We wanted to see a more transparent system governing MPs’ expenses in the future. The Speaker had established this review that the Prime Minister welcomed, and he thought that was the right way to consider these matters – in a deliberative, orderly way.

Asked if the Prime Minister was anxious about the timescale, the PMS replied that it was important that these things were looked at in an orderly way. The Prime Minister had expressed his view on numerous occasions, including last week, that there needed to be greater transparency in the way we do things.

Asked if the Prime Minister was trying to stiffen the resolve of the reformers and was warning the Speaker not to resist reforms, the PMS replied that he would not interpret it in that way.

Put that the Speaker had chosen to do this via the Estimates Committee, who’s members were not all free of controversy, and asked if the Prime Minister thought that that was the right way to do it, the PMS replied that the Speaker was the Speaker, he had set up this process, it was right that we did this in a deliberative and orderly way, and he would be setting out further details in his letter this afternoon.

Asked if the Prime Minister thought that MPs were the right people to judge how their expenses and allowances would be paid, the PMS replied that the Prime Minister had said that there needed to be greater transparency over the system relating to expenses, and it was right that we went about this in a deliberative and orderly way.

Asked if it was not the case that the poachers were setting the rules for the gamekeeper, the PMS replied that in relation to the mechanism for setting MP’s pay for example, the Prime Minister had asked the chair of the Senior Salaries Review Body to conduct a review on that matter. Asked if he was the person to review expenses and allowances, the PMS replied that the Speaker had set up this process and the Prime Minister would give his views on this in greater detail later today.

Asked to clarify what the Prime Minister meant by greater transparency, the PMS replied that it was best to wait for the letter.

Asked what would be considered not in an orderly manner, and what was the alternative, the PMS replied that the alternative would be disorderly and non-deliberative. Asked what he meant by this, the PMS replied that he would not be getting into that – we were setting out what the Prime Minister was calling for, not what he was not calling for.

Asked if it was fair to say that the Prime Minister was basically associating himself with the Speaker’s process on this, the PMS replied that the Prime Minister thought that these things should be done in a proper and orderly way.

Asked what was wrong with telling MPs to publish details of who they were employing as of tomorrow, as David Cameron had called for, the PMS replied that he had not seen David Cameron’s comments, but as he said, the Prime Minister had consistently called for greater transparency in relation to MPs’ allowances.

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» Tuesday, February 5, 2008

MPs’ Expenses

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