Time for MPs to be true to their word

THE EVE of Guy Fawkes Night seems an appropriate date for Sir Christopher Kelly's report on the reform of MPs' expenses.

Fawkes was part of a group of Catholic conspirators who planned to blow up the Houses of Parliament in the Gunpowder Plot on November 5th, 1605.

Public mistrust of MPs, even before the expenses scandal, has led to Fawkes being jokingly labelled as the last man to enter Parliament with "honourable intentions".

But now, the public will hope - nay, expect - this current bunch of representatives to do the right thing by looking beyond their own self-interest.

Sir Christopher has done all he can. He has made his recommendations and gained the explicit support from the party leaders.

But it is up to all of the MPs to be as good as their leaders' word and accept the proposals "in full".

After all, Sir Christopher could have made life a whole lot harder for them - especially given the furore which followed The Telegraph's revelations in April.

Instead, he said he took a "cold, hard look at what went wrong" and came up with what he considers to be "reasonable and fair" solutions.

Sir Christopher's plans certainly seem "reasonable and fair" to me with some of the new rules intentionally given a transition period.

In his statement yesterday, he said he would allow mortgage claims to continue for the duration of the next Parliament.

Meanwhile, the nepotism of employing relatives will be phased out over a five-year period.

Sir Christopher also recommended an end to resettlement grants of up to £64,000 for MPs who voluntarily step down. But, again, this would only come into force after the next general election.

He suggested that the practice of "flipping" homes for capital gains tax purposes should be outlawed.

He also says that the communications allowance of £10,400 a year should be binned, as it is often used for nothing more than self-publicity.

But there has been no outright ban on MPs having a second job, provided it is restricted to "reasonable limits".

Sir Christopher has proposed an extension of a rule which currently prevents MPs within 20 miles of Parliament from claiming for a second home to 12 other members.

These additional MPs live a little further out but in fact have quicker journey times to Westminster due to geographic location and transport links.

Even this was not as bad news as MPs had feared. Leaks had suggested the cut-off time would be an hours' journey from Westminster, which would have implicated many more of the 66 members who are affected.

All of the proposals will now be assessed by the new Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA), led by Sir Ian Kennedy.

But, assuming they are accepted by IPSA, surely no right-minded member would set about opposing any of the suggestions above.

Already, however, there were groans from MPs when it was announced that Sir Ian would be paid up to £100,000 in his new role.

This may be more than their basic salary, but they must understand that the time for members to self-regulate has long since passed by.

Now is the time for MPs to be true to their word and show a level of honesty at the House arguably not seen for over 400 years.