Downing Street Says » MPs Expenses

Asked if the Prime Minister would share the views of some MPs that they deserved a pay rise, the PMS said that the Prime Minister’s view was that this was the end of self-regulation. We now had a new regime for expenses and he was pleased that the report was going to be implemented as soon as possible. The Prime Minister had said that it should not be a matter for MPs ever again to decide what they got paid.

There had been some discussion yesterday about where MPs pay should be determined in future; this was a matter for the appropriate authorities and if it was to be IPSA, it was the PMS’s understanding that that would require some change in legislation. At the moment they were set by the Senior Salaries Review Body (SSRB).

Asked whether the Prime Minister supported in principle the idea of having pay resolved by allowances, the PMS said that the Prime Minister would support something that streamlined the whole process. Asked if the Prime Minister was opening the door for IPSA to take over pay controls, the PMS said that it was not something the Government was involved in, but it had been suggested that IPSA could take on the responsibility.

Asked if the Prime Minister agreed that MPs salaries had been held back and should therefore get a pay rise, the PMS said that the Prime Minister was completely focussed on making sure that we changed the system of self-regulation of expenses. There were other related issues, but we now had a new expenses regime that would hopefully be implemented as soon as possible.

Put that the Prime Minister was still keen for Parliament not to be a preserve of the rich, the PMS said that this was the Prime Minister’s view. Whatever system emerged, we wanted to ensure that the House of Commons continued with its diversity and the Prime Minister had made this point at the Speaker’s Conference.

Asked whether the Prime Minister was satisfied that that would be the case now that the new recommendations were known, the PMS replied that what we had seen yesterday was the end of a regime that was not working for Parliament or for the country. The Prime Minister would take the view that the vast majority of people who came into politics and to the House of Commons, did not come into it for any financial gains, but to serve their country and constituents. Self-regulatory expenses had got in the way of what the public wanted their MPs to be doing.

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» Thursday, November 5, 2009

MPs Expenses

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