UNITED KINGDOM: Graft row grows
The (lower) House of Commons yesterday agreed to bring forward official publication of the expense claims of members of parliament (MPs) by a month, faced with an escalation in a two-year story over the abuse of official allowances. Details of MPs' second-home expenses were due to have been published in July, after their enforced release under the Freedom of Information Act, but they were leaked early on May 8, allowing evidence to emerge about the scale -- and occasionally colourful nature -- of individual claims. Already embattled Speaker Michael Martin (whose ill-judged apparent defence of the present system yesterday led to a no-confidence motion being drafted against him) looks to be among the casualties. Both parties will suffer politically, though Labour's unpopularity and the Conservatives' better political management suggest that the row only will reinforce the trend of declining government popularity, further hampering effective policymaking on issues (such as executive pay, or benefit cuts) where the government is vulnerable to charges of hypocrisy. Protest parties -- the third-placed Liberal Democrats, as well as the Greens and far-Right -- will benefit in local and European elections in June.
Our judgement
The long-term casualty of the expenses row is likely to be the effectiveness of parliament as a scrutineer; ending a system whereby expenses are used to compensate for relatively low salaries will be politically costly to implement now, as it entails raising members' pay.
See UNITED KINGDOM: System suffers from MPs graft row - May 13, 2009.