MPs

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With detailed plans on reducing number of MPs imminent, Tories and Lib Dems say proposals will lead to flashpoint in Commons. Plans to shrink the number of constituencies in the UK from 650 to 600 will provoke a cross-party rebellion that could topple the government by October 2013, both Conservative and Liberal Democrat sources have acknowledged. The boundary commissions in Wales and England are due to publish detailed plans for redrawn constituencies in the first two weeks of September, just ahead of this year's party conferences.

The proposals will leave only 25 seats undisturbed, and will inevitably set some MPs from the same party against one another as they battle to prevent seats being abolished. Senior Tory and Lib Dem sources acknowledged that the requirement to put the final revised boundaries to a vote in the Commons will provide a flashpoint. A Conservative adviser on the review admitted "it will be the greatest single risk to the coalition making it through its full five years." One Lib Dem said, "It is inevitably going to be a point of high, even maximum, tension in the parliament."

He added, "The result of the vote will be tight, since Labour will vote against the changes en masse, and some of our MPs will rebel, as will Tories, concerned that they will see their seat taken away. But it is a leap to say that the coalition will collapse." Once the proposals are published, they will be subject to consultation over the following 24 weeks, before a vote in parliament that can take place no later than October 2013.

Research undertaken for the Conservatives suggests far more seats will become marginal and the Lib Dems, along with nationalists, will lose as many as 10. The Tories could lose as many as 15 seats and Labour 25. However, the projections are not quite as bad for the Lib Dems as some estimates produced earlier by Professor Lewis Baston for Democratic Audit and published in the Guardian. He predicted that the junior coalition partners could lose 14 seats in the shakeup. (Source: The Guardian, Jul/11)

The House of Commons has been ordered to provide a detailed breakdown of MPs' second home expenses claims, after a lengthy Freedom of Information battle. The current Additional Costs Allowance (ACA) system is "deeply unsatisfactory" the Information Tribunal ruled. It said the "laxity" of rules on the allowance was "very different" from those in the private sector. The tribunal heard that MPs claim ACA to cover the costs of staying overnight away from their main home. Each MP can claim about £23,000 a year and can submit claims of up to £250 without a receipt and up to £400 a month for food.

The tribunal noted that the guidance available to MPs on what they can claim is "incomplete", that MPs are not trusted to have access to the list of acceptable costs "lest the maximum allowable prices become the going rate" and there are no "additional" checks on what MPs claim. In its ruling, the tribunal said it was not its job to say how the system should work, but it had to make a judgement on existing controls. It said, "The laxity of and lack of clarity in the rules for ACA is redolent of a culture very different from that which exists in the commercial sphere or in most other public sector organisations today."

The tribunal ruled that some details should not be published, including "sensitive personal data" such as MPs' health matters, MPs' bank, loan and credit card statements, individual numbers on itemised phone bills and details of contractors who had regular access to MPs' homes. Security details will also be kept private, as will addresses of MPs who have a good reason - for example a known stalker, terrorist or "other criminal threat". A spokesman for the Members' Estimates Committee (MEC), which deals with allowances on behalf of the Commons, said, "The MEC notes the tribunal's decision and is taking legal advice." (Source: BBC News, Feb/08)

MPs have devised a queue-jumping scheme in Westminster bars and restaurants. The plan has provoked claims from their secretaries that they were being treated as second-class citizens. Gill Cheeseman, president of the Commons Secretaries' and Assistants' Council, said that her members are not willing to obey the new rules. Labour MP Janet Anderson said, "This is not about MPs being precious or trying to pull rank, it is about being able to do our job properly. Some MPs, including me, have complained that when we are rushing to get to an important vote or committee meeting, we get held up in lifts."

She added, "They are supposed to be reserved for us but sometimes they are full of researchers who want to stop at every floor or someone from the catering department pushing a trolley full of food. There has been an erosion of rules which were accepted for many years which gave priority to MPs on parliamentary business. We do not want to elbow staff out of the way in the coffee queue, the whole thing has got completely out of hand and I am sure there is a sensible way of sorting it out."

A further row has blown up over a memo sent to parliamentary officials telling them to stay away from MPs' favourite bars. The memo said "if a bar is already busy when you arrive, be prepared to change venue." A Commons source said, "They want to keep us out of bars we have been using for decades because MPs want to keep them for their friends and hangerson. The whole point of having a drink is to find a friendly and busy bar with atmosphere." (Source: Mail on Sunday, Oct/07)

MPs are demanding a wage increase of up to £6,000 a year. Labour and Tory MPs have formed a secret pact to force through a record pay deal for themselves in the New Year. One reason for the big claim is that many Labour MPs fear they will lose their seats at the next Election, and want to boost their Commons pension rights before it is too late. Well-placed sources say that a report submitted to Downing Street by the Senior Salaries Review Body says MPs' pay should go up from its present £60,675 to about £66,500 over three years, nearly 10%.

It involves a 2.8% rise in April followed by index-linked rises in the next two years, in addition to an annual £800 "top-up". As well as their salary, MPs receive generous perks including a second-home allowance, subsidised travel and a gold-plated pension. Commons holidays average four months a year. Commons holidays average four months a year, though MPs claim they spend much of this time working in their constituencies. One Labour MP said, "Our pay has fallen further and further behind other similar groups and we are not prepared to put up with it any longer. We now earn less than some Polish plumbers, and that cannot be right."

Despite the extra perks, MPs claim they have been short-changed over the past five years because the Government has repeatedly granted them minimum pay rises. MPs campaigning for higher wages claim they need to be paid an extra £3,750 just to make up for the below inflation pay rises of the past five years and that to catch up with average earnings they need an immediate rise of £5,500.

However, Gordon Brown is to order MPs to reject the pay rise worth nearly 10%. The issue is decided by a free vote of the Commons because it is not considered Government business. As a result the PM will be unable to impose his will on the Parliamentary Labour Party using the Whips Office, and will instead have to rely on unofficial pleas to MPs. He is likely to use the so-called payroll vote to order the Cabinet, junior ministers and parliamentary aides to back him. (Source: Daily Mail, Dec/07)

Can you imagine working for a company that has a little more than 500 employees and has the following statistics?

29 have been accused of spouse abuse
7 have been arrested for fraud
19 have been accused of writing bad cheques
117 have directly or indirectly bankrupted at least 2 businesses
3 have done time for assault
71 cannot get a credit card due to bad credit
14 have been arrested on drug-related charges
8 have been arrested for shoplifting
21 are currently defendants in lawsuits
84 have been arrested for drunk driving in the last year

Can you guess which organization this is? It's the 535 members of the Houses of Parliament, the same group that churns out hundreds of new laws each year designed to keep the rest of us in line.

MPs are planning to use taxpayers' money to help fund their own childcare arrangements. John Bercow, the Speaker, is backing plans for the Commons to offer a "short-term, short-notice" child-minding service for MPs. The "core funding" of the new childcare service is to come from public money. Members will also pay a fee for using the service. The House of Commons Commission, the panel of senior MPs that runs the Commons estate, has instructed officials to draw up a detailed plan for the emergency childcare service.

The plan was agreed at a Commission meeting chaired by Mr Bercow on July 20, two days before MPs left Westminster for their summer break. The commission will discuss the detailed proposals at its next meeting in October. Commission meetings are not open to the public, but a minute of the July 20 session reveals the childcare plan. The short-term care plan emerged after the Commons authorities abandoned plans to give MPs childcare vouchers to fund childcare on a regular basis.

That proposal was dropped earlier this year after an internal survey of MPs found that there was no significant demand for regular childcare among members at Westminster. However, Commons sources said that several MPs used the survey to call for an emergency childcare service, especially for use in the evening if they were required to attend late votes at the Commons. Several MPs who made questionable expenses claims have linked their actions to the issue of childcare.

Julie Kirkbride, who is stepping down as a Tory MP, said she charged taxpayers for a £50,000 extension for an extra bedroom at her home so that her brother could stay over while he looked after her son. Dozens of other MPs have said they also plan to step down at the general election next year. Labour confirmed over the weekend that 63 of its 349 MPs are standing down, and insiders believe the final total could reach 120.

Many MPs say the expenses scandal has exposed them to public scorn and ridicule. Yet even after the details of their expenses were revealed, MPs have continued to spark controversy over their use of public money. It was revealed in July that Commons rules introduced earlier this year allow MPs to claim up to £9,125 a year without producing any receipts and Mr Bercow himself has ordered a £20,000 refurbishment of his grace-and-favour Westminster apartment, including more than £7,000 on a "sofa suite".

Mr Bercow, elected Speaker in June on a platform of restoring Parliament's reputation, has pledged to make the Commons more family friendly. He has said his refurbishment bill is reasonable because he needs to make alterations to Speaker's House so he can live there with his three young children. A spokeswoman for the House of Commons Commission confirmed the childcare plans were being considered.

She said, "This would be for occasions when MPs are summoned to Westminster unexpectedly, for example when the business of the House changes at short notice, and not for regular childcare, which MPs are expected to organise for themselves. The intention is for MPs to pay for this childcare themselves, at not less than market rates, but it is recognised that because demand will be unpredictable and highly variable, some core funding is likely to be needed." (Source: Sunday Telegraph, Aug/09)

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