Well – this is back in the news! The latest proposal in the on-going saga of MPs expenses is to exempt us from freedom of information rules, and so avoid having to publish full details.
My view is that we MPs should have the same rules as everyone else: same sorts of evidence required for expense claims as in a normal workplace, and same transparency rules as others.
I don’t see why the House of Commons administration should not be the body to whom all expenses are submitted and then they check that it is all bona fide. And nor do I see why MPs should have some special freedom of information exemption.
Glad to say that opposition to the suggestions that MPs should be exempted from these freedom of information rules is shared by David Heath and Nick Clegg! My colleague Jo Swinson is also putting down a motion in Parliament against the exemption idea. I think it would be madness for MPs to be exempted.
More on the campaign at MySociety, Matt Wardman and these two Facebook groups.
Lynne Featherstone 
You MPs should all be declared to be businesses and be registered for VAT. Then you would have the discipline of doing your accounts every quarter and providing vouchers for pretty well all of the expenditure.
Thanks for highlighting the issue and for your support for more transparency.I’ll count on your vote on thursday.