THE SPEAKER of the British House of Commons, Michael Martin, is facing the indignity of a “no confidence” motion over the Westminster expenses scandal. The move comes following mounting pressure on Mr Martin this week after he refused to apologise for personal rebukes to MPs who questioned his handling of the affair. The motion, by Tory MP Douglas Carswell, could be tabled next week.
The Conservative leader, David Cameron, again clashed with prime minister Gordon Brown over the issue, while Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg renewed the pressure on them both to “close the biggest loophole of them all” by preventing MPs profiting by using taxpayers’ money to play the property market.
Mr Clegg was speaking on the day the Daily Telegraph disclosures turned the spotlight on Lib Dems – including Mr Clegg himself – over expenses claims used variously to pay for a student daughter’s “bolt hole” apartment, a leather rocking chair, a pergola and fluffy dusters, and the fees of an interior designer used by former leader Sir Menzies Campbell to refurbish his rented flat.
Sir Ming said he would be paying back £1,490.66 for the interior designer, while Labour health minister Phil Hope announced he will repay £41,709 in “second home” allowances after he suffered “a massive blow” to his integrity and standing with voters.
Mr Hope, MP for Corby and East Northants, said he had “kept to the rules laid down by parliament” and both he and his wife felt “very hurt” by what had happened. “Whatever the rights and wrongs of the allowance system,” however, Mr Hope said the issue had “fundamentally changed” the view people had of him “and that is something I cannot bear”.
After Mr Cameron had “named and shamed” a string of shadow cabinet members and ordered them to refund disputed claims, embattled communities secretary Hazel Blears also confirmed she had written a cheque to the Inland Revenue for capital gains tax on the £45,000 profit on a flat listed to the Commons authorities as her second home but described to the taxman as her primary residence.
Ms Blears said she had “heard absolutely the anger the public feel”, and so had decided to pay back £13,332 recognising that “it isn’t just enough to claim within the law”.
It remains to be seen if that recognition will be enough to save Ms Blear’s cabinet job in the reshuffle expected after Labour’s predicted drubbing in the European and local elections next month, in what will be seen as a desperate bid by Mr Brown to pre-empt any move against his own leadership.
According to the Daily Telegraph, Mr Clegg, the Lib Dem leader, claimed the maximum allowed under the expenses scheme for his second home.
Apart from agreeing to repay the costs of some international telephone calls, however, Mr Clegg’s embarrassment proved short-lived as he confirmed that any profit made on his constituency home would be refunded to the taxpayer – and then announced that all his MPs would do likewise.
Urging Mr Brown to follow the practice in the Scottish Parliament and stop taxpayer-funded mortgages altogether, Mr Clegg insisted: “Surely the only long-term response is to get us all out of the property game altogether.”