Harsh reality of MPs' expenses

THE fact that three Labour MPs and a Conservative peer are facing criminal charges as a result of their expenses claims will hardly renew public respect for politicians, nor galvanise support for the main parties ahead of a General Election due very shortly.

Nevertheless, in spite of the bad publicity for British democracy that the ensuing court cases are likely to provoke, the fact that the police and Crown Prosecution Service have taken the MPs' expenses scandal sufficiently seriously to mount a thorough investigation is to be welcomed.

After all, the damage to parliamentary reputations has already been done and when this unsightly boil on the face of British politics has been thoroughly lanced – as should be the case once the court cases have finished, new parliamentary procedures are in place and the election has brought a host of fresh faces into the Commons – then politicians can truly begin the hard task of regaining public trust.

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Of course, it may be of little consolation to Scunthorpe MP Elliot Morley, his colleagues David Chaytor and Jim Devine, and the leader of Essex County Council, Lord Hanningfield, that their cases will be an important part of expunging this unsavoury episode from British political life.

However, as evidenced by the volume of letters received by this newspaper, the public will be relieved that the justice system has intervened. After all, as so many observers have pointed out, if members of the public are implicated in work-related expenses scandals of this nature, then they are likely to be subject to a fully fledged criminal investigation. Why, then, should MPs be treated any differently?

It is clear, from their constant quibbling with the findings of Sir Thomas Legg, whose report revealed the full scale of the abuse, that too many MPs grasp neither the enormity of their wrongdoings, nor the full depth of the contempt in which they are held by the voters. In which case, perhaps the CPS's decision will bring home to them the full seriousness of what has been happening.

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