MPs Expenses affair - deep skullduggery afoot

[David Guyatt]

Despite the immense public outcry, dirty hand still dip into the public purse.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/...-shame-mps

Expenses watchdog to name MPs who submitted claims in breach of rules
Ipsa to name and shame dozens of MPs who submitted claims wholly or partly in breach of rules

Polly Curtis, Whitehall correspondent
The Guardian, Thursday 3 February 2011


Former MP Jim Devine, who is accused of submitting false invoices. Expenses watchdog Ipsa has said it will name and shame rule breakers. Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

The expenses watchdog will name and shame tomorrow dozens of MPs responsible for submitting around 150 claims subsequently found to be in breach of the rules and rejected.

Another 100 claims were only partly reimbursed by officials at the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority last September and October because these partially broke the rules.

The number of rejected claims is down substantially on the first four months of the scheme, which was brought in to clean up the system after the expenses scandal that rocked parliament in 2009. From May to the beginning of September there were 1,600 rejected claims a rate of 400 a month but today Ipsa will publish the latest tranche, in which rejections and partial payments are understood to average around 125 a month.

The dramatic drop in rejected claims will be interpreted as evidence that the system is bedding in and preventing the widespread abuse seen in the previous parliament. But the fact that those who break the rules will be named for the first time is likely to reignite the row over MPs' abuse of expenses.

In December, Ipsa published details of expenses claims in the first four months of the scheme and the 1,600 claims rejected with the names redacted. The watchdog argued that it should keep MPs' names secret for the first few months of the scheme to allow it to settle in.

That report revealed some MPs making duplicate claims, or failing to provide enough evidence for claims, and others claiming for things not permitted under the new rules, such as first class travel.

One MP was refused £338 for a shredder, another tried to claim £1,057 for advertising, and a third was refused £1,085 for "contingencies".

This time such breaches will be published along with the names of the MPs responsible.

MPs are locked in a furious battle with Ipsa, with many arguing that trust in politics will never be renewed if Ipsa pursues its plans to publish expenses every two months creating what some see as a "witch hunt".

Ipsa has said that transparency in the system is crucial to restoring faith, but it is reviewing its expenses schemes and consulting about changes. David Cameron has said that Ipsa has to reform by April, in particularly to become more "family friendly", or face being forced to change.

That row is playing out in parliament against a backdrop of court cases against MPs, most of whom have already left parliament.

Last month the former Labour MP David Chaytor who stood down from Bury North at the general election was the first MP to be jailed after fraudulently claiming almost £20,000. He was sentenced to 18 months.

Eric Illsley, serving Labour MP for Barnsley Central, is due to be sentenced this month for wrongly claiming £14,000, and former Livingston MP Jim Devine is in court this week accused of submitting false invoices.