Progress At Last

The news that David Maclean’s shabby little Bill has been smothered in its cot will be welcomed in many quarters. It comes as no surprise that Maclean was unable to find a sponsor in The House of Lords, given that his Bill had acquired the status of a hot iPod offered for sale down your local pub for a tenner.

It seems to have escaped the attention of the press that the Government Whips Office had a big hand in getting this Bill through Third reading. During the final debates no less than eleven out of thirteen Whips voted for the Bill on procedural matters and on the final vote nine out of thirteen did so. Seventy-six out of the ninety-five supporters of the Bill’s Third Reading were Labour members, thirty six of them members of the Government (including PPSs).

This had become a de facto Government Bill.

No wonder, given how many Labour member’s expenses had come in for searching scrutiny in the press.

What now?

Firstly all must be on their guard against some sly, underhand, cheapjack plot to reduce in any way the present level of information concerning MPs and Peer’s expenses. One would not put it beyond Straw and the Whips to have another go whilst we are not looking since the effort they put into getting this one through Parliament suggests considerable determination to cover up their felonies which in turn suggests that the level of scrutiny and coverage so far has really touched a raw nerve: ie they realize they have been caught red-handed!

Secondly, given the damage that this distasteful episode has done to the reputation of Parliament and MPs, has not the time come to shame them into establishing ONLINE Registers of MPs and Peers expenses as has already been done with considerable success by the Scottish Parliament?

(See http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/msp/MSPAllowances/searchGuidance.htm)

An ePetition calling upon the Government to do precisely this has been started on the No. 10 website at http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/mpexpensesonline/ and a Draft Bill that provides a framework for both such a scheme and for criminal sanctions for those who make false or reckless claims whilst applying for their expenses from the authorities is proposed at http://www.freewebs.com/mpsexpensesregisterbill/. Perhaps readers might care to support the petition if they think it a good idea or to comment one way or the other.