Expenses grumbling prompts watchdog shift
By politics.co.uk staff
Frustrations with the new expenses system have already prompted retreats from the watchdog charged with overseeing the new regime.
The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority watchdog has dropped plans to assume 15% of phone calls made on their office phones are personal.
Anger that many are being forced to make reductions in their staffing arrangements has also prompted a decision to make a £4,000 salary advance.
The annual £110,000 cap on salaries, which many MPs believe is too low, could yet be revisited.
“Ipsa should be standing their ground, not caving in to MPs like this,” Fiona McEvoy of the Taxpayers’ Alliance told the Daily Mail newspaper.
“The expenses scandal has meant that we no longer trust MPs to be honest about what they’re owed.”
But Ipsa chairman Sir Ian Kennedy insisted the new rules were fair, workable andtransparent.
“Implementing such a radical change poses significant challenges. That is why we have invested heavily in providing training and advice to MPs and their staff,” he said.
“The new rules are here to stay. There will be no going back to the old, utterly discredited, system.”
A statement on the watchdog’s website issued last week suggested it remained ready to respond to MPs’ concerns.
It read: “IPSA continues to listen to feedback from MPs and the public on the rules. Where good evidence can be provided that the system needs improving, we will do so.”
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