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'Arrogant' MPs vote to keep expenses for second homes
MPs were accused of showing "astonishing arrogance" last night after rejecting tougher controls over their controversial £24,000 second-home allowances.
At least 12 Government Ministers – including three sitting in the Cabinet – voted to keep the so-called "John Lewis list" and reject any independent scrutiny of their claims, a move guaranteed to prolong the controversy over MPs' expenses.
Last night Tory MP David Maclean, one of the architects of reform proposals, accused the Government of "pulling the rug" from under the plans by allowing many Labour MPs to miss the vote or oppose change. David Cameron ordered the Tory Shadow Cabinet to back the changes.
Shadow work and pensions secretary Chris Grayling accused Ministers of "showing blatant contempt" for public concerns after the vote on reforms, which would have required receipts for claims, introduced independent audit, ended payments for improvements on MPs' second homes and replaced the current allowance with a reduced overnight expenses allowance.
Instead, MPs voted by 172 to 144 to continue with the current system – despite warnings from one MP that doing so would be "utterly catastrophic" for the public's view of MPs – while also approving 6m of improvements to constituency offices.
Earlier, however, MPs rejected an above-inflation pay rise and agreed to Government requests to show restraint and accept a 2.25 per cent increase this year.
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, Culture Secretary Andy Burnham and two of Gordon Brown's parliamentary aides were among those who voted to keep the current allowances system, along with Yorkshire MPs Caroline Flint, the Housing Minister, and Rosie Winterton, a Transport Minister.
The reforms were proposed in the wake of the fury over Tory MP Derek Conway's payments to his son.
Mr Grayling said: "When Parliament has been under fire in the way it has been over the last few months, it is essential our leaders set the right example. Gordon Brown and his most senior Ministers went Awol. They are showing blatant contempt for very real public concerns."
Lib Dem MP Nick Harvey, another member of the Members Estimates Committee which drew up the reform proposals, said: "It was a total own-goal on the part of the House of Commons."
Taxpayers' Alliance chief executive Matthew Elliott said: "MPs have missed a crucial opportunity to restore faith in Parliament by clinging onto the plasma screen TVs and luxury kitchens allowed by the John Lewis list. They've shown astonishing arrogance and disregard for people's concerns."
But Labour MP Don Touhig, who led attempts to defeat the proposals, said they would mean employing hundreds of accountants.
Sir Christopher Kelly, the chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, has warned he would review MPs' expenses if their own inquiry did not calm public anger. When asked about the last night's Commons' decision, he said: "I would expect the public to react very badly."
These are the 19 MPs from the Yorkshire region who rejected expenses reform:
Kevin Barron, Lab, Rother Valley
Clive Betts, Lab, Sheffield, Attercliffe
Colin Burgon, Lab, Elmet
Ann Cryer, Lab, Keighley
Jeff Ennis, Barnsley East & Mexborough
Caroline Flint, Lab, Don Valley
John Greenway, Con, Ryedale
Eric Ilsley, Lab, Barnsley Central
Diana Johnson, Lab, Kingston upon Hull North
Denis MacShane, Lab, Rotherham
Chris McCafferty, Lab, Calder Valley
Anne McIntosh, Con, Vale of York
Elliot Morley, Lab, Scunthorpe
George Mudie, Lab, Leeds East
Terry Rooney, Lab, Bradford North
Barry Sheerman, Lab/Co-op, Huddersfield
Angela Smith, Lab, Sheffield, Hillsborough
Gerry Sutcliffe, Lab, Bradford South
Rosie Winterton, Lab, Doncaster Central
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Saturday 11 February 2012
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