Typing still tricky – so will keep this short, but the basics are simple:
– No London MP needs a second home allowance. Millions of people manage to commute those sorts of distances – including many who work all sorts of hours and don’t get a second home.
– Outside London second home allowance or not should be decided by travel time to London.
– MPs shouldn’t be able to make a profit out of second home allowance. If they need one – and those who live a long way from London do – and use it to buy a property, then when it is sold the proceeds should go back to the taxpayer. Taxpayers paid for the property. Taxpayers get the profits back.
– End the nonsense of mixing up under “expenses” the costs of running an office with the personal expenses of being an MP. All MPs need an office and staff – that’s not “expenses” in the way people in other jobs mean when they talk about claiming back their expenses at the end of the month. Separate out the office and staff costs from expenses – and that will strengthen transparency.
– Make the office costs allowance reflect the big variations in property prices around the UK.
– Get on and change the rules soon. No need to wait until next year or after the general election.
– In the end – if that doesn’t happen and you want change, you’ve got to vote for it at the general election. However awful the rules are. However awfully you think some people have behaved. In a democracy, you and your ballot paper can change things.
Lynne Featherstone 
I previously worked away from home for an extended period and had 2 choices for my expenses – book into a hotel or rent a flat. This seems a reasonable choice for our MPs to be honest.As for affecting change – lobbying, pressure and demonstrations are perfectly legitimate forms of protest. Waiting for the ballot box like good little voters sometimes ain’t enough Lynne.
Iain – I agree. Lobbying etc is very important. But just wanted to make the point that in the end the power is with the public in the ballot box if all else fails.
People can only make good choices at the ballot box if they have full transparency and disclosure of the information they need.That’s why I’ve proposed an open, near-real time database of MPs’ expenses.This is technically feasible and in the context of other government IT megaprojects, incredibly cheap.
I maintain thet we should build a “halls of residence” for MPs – it can be guarded and firewalled to give far more security than MPs second homes have now. With centralised provision of telephone, internet access, television, cleaning etc it’s bound to pay for itself in the long-term.As you rightly say, staffing costs should be seen as separate from expenses. I also think it’s time we looked critically at MPs employing their family members.Just my two penneth!
But what about porn?
It would be nice if my ballot paper could change things in parliament, but since I already live in a Lib Dem constituency, it really can’t change things for the better – this is as good as it gets.We need proportional representation for that to really work.
Agree about separation of support costs (staff, office) and personal expenses. Have recently been talking to one of my Ward’s local councillors. He is now in my Unitary Authority’s Executive Cabinet – he is totally overwhelmed by emails on Executive topics, has no support staff and no way to pay for them – he should have a confidential PA paid by the Council. He no longer has anywhere near enough time for Ward affairs, albeit we realise that he will not have as much time for really local matters as before. (Of course, long time ago, when many Councillors were local businessmen, I’m sure that their secretaries at work used to help out.)
This whole “expenses” fiasco should be enough to cause parliament to be dissolved. We taxpayers and citizens are being treated with utter contempt by those people we elected and trust to represent us. None of us ordinary plebs could get these sort of claims past our employers or the IR. We are all encouraged to report benefit cheats, but MP’s attempted to hide their similar misdemeanours behind foI. Even those MP’s who made reasonable and decent claims largely remained silent on this issue. I live in the constituency of Chris Huhne and am currently a supporter, but if it transpires that I am buying his patio heater or paying for his piano to be tuned my support will move elsewhere. This corruption appears to be so endemic it is hard to imagine who can be trusted to actually represent our interests. Peter (Botley).
If we lived in a genuine democracy there might be some point in voting, but we don’t … we live in an elected dictatorship. When the choice is between self-interested greedy crook 1 and self-interested greedy crook 2, where is the choice … you end up with a self-interested greedy crook whatever you do. Why are politicians apparently surprised that so few people think it’s worth voting when they prove year after year to be greedy deceitful wastes of DNA? Perhaps more would vote if prospective candidates had to show relevant qualifications and experience, which might mean that the person in charge of the UK economy had something more relevant than a History degree, followed by a period working as a very bad TV reporter!
In my opinion Parliament should be dissolved and a general election held. I don’t trust any MP to behave in a completely honest and transparent fashion anymore. Even the ones who didn’t indulge in gorging themselves from the public trough don’t seem to have wanted to expose and dismantle this system for legalised fraud. Paying back fees is as obscene as claiming them in the first place..I couldnt return a stolen TV just because I got caught and expect it to end there. Mps have displayed what the Americans call ‘moral turpitude’ and they should all be replaced by figures we can trust. Go for it Esther!
Staffing should be provided from a central pool of staff. MP’s will obviously abuse any staffing allowance by employing as many family members as possible on extortionate wages (paid for by the taxpayer).
The only thing that will cause quick reform by MP’s is cold fear. The only way that will happen is if they get a terrifying message from the electorate that we are not content with them fiddling about with reforms and expense fiddlers. I never thought I would agree with Norman Tebbit, but if huge numbers don’t vote for any major party (possibly Libs if no sensible alternative) on 4th of June that would put the fear of God into Politicians.