Posts Tagged ‘Allowances’

Parliament is facing a crucial time, the new Speaker is facing a crucial time. Recent events surrounding MPs expenses have left us all thinking how did it come to this and how did this go on for so long without anyone noticing.

All MPs need to consider how this looks to the public - claiming allowances for moat cleaning, for mortgages already paid off, for other border-line goods and services, regardless of whether the rules allowed them or not, does not look good and does not help with forging closer links between politics and the people of Britain.

The question also has to be asked not only what can be done about it but what can be done to prevent it happening again?

Michael Martin came in for pretty robust criticisms from MPs and from outside the House. It is rare for such outright defiance of a Speaker to be seen in the House of Commons. Regardless of the necessity of the Speaker to stand down, there are many people who will regret the manner in which it was done.

How much is this down to MPs really thinking that the Speaker is the best option to save their own hides as a convenient scapegoat  after so many of them have been caught with their hands in the till?

There have been suggestions that Michael Martin was not up to the job, that he was lacking in either the intellectual capacity or the authority to command respect in the House. These allegations may have some substance and perhaps time had run out for him.

The question remains though, to what extent was the Speaker perceived to be the problem or representing the blockages to reform?

There is a big task ahead for the next Speaker to help to begin the process of restoring faith in politics, Parliament and the role of MPs - it would have helped if MPs hadn’t put themselves in this mess in the first place.