Cutting the Cost of Politics
The Times has an interesting report today on another aspect of MPs expenses - their £10,040 a year 'communications allowance' - which has come in for scathing cross-party criticism.
Here's a brief summary of the article which can be read on-line at: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/
"MPs have forced a U-turn over plans to shut their publicly funded websites and abolish their £10,040-a-year communications allowance.
Last month Harriet Harman told the Commons that from the new year the allowance, a fund for sitting MPs to publicise their constituency work through leaflets and websites, would be scrapped.
Limits on spending by political parties come into force on January 1, until the general election. Public money for political purposes is more tightly controlled during this period.
“The proposal is that the use of the communications allowance should end on December 31, after which the new election expenses limits will come into force,” Ms Harman, the Leader of the House, said.
The allowance has been criticised for giving sitting MPs an unfair advantage over challengers of other parties. Tony Wright, Labour chairman of the Public Administration Committee, has called it “wretched”, and Sir Christopher Kelly, chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, said it was used only for self-promotion.
In May David Cameron said at Prime Minister’s Questions: “Let us be honest: taxpayers are effectively paying out thousands of pounds so we can all tell our constituents what a wonderful job we are all doing. We have all done it; we all know the facts. Is not this a gigantic waste of money?”
But MPs were furious that the allowance was to go and protested to party whips and Ms Harman’s office. “MPs were spitting that this allowance was to be removed. They have been fighting tooth and claw to keep every bit of it that they could,” said a source close to the negotiations.
Now Ms Harman appears to have bowed to pressure from MPs."
Having visited more than a few of these web sites - it is hard to disagree with the view that they are a complete waste of millions of pounds of public money.
Here's a brief summary of the article which can be read on-line at: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/
"MPs have forced a U-turn over plans to shut their publicly funded websites and abolish their £10,040-a-year communications allowance.
Last month Harriet Harman told the Commons that from the new year the allowance, a fund for sitting MPs to publicise their constituency work through leaflets and websites, would be scrapped.
Limits on spending by political parties come into force on January 1, until the general election. Public money for political purposes is more tightly controlled during this period.
“The proposal is that the use of the communications allowance should end on December 31, after which the new election expenses limits will come into force,” Ms Harman, the Leader of the House, said.
The allowance has been criticised for giving sitting MPs an unfair advantage over challengers of other parties. Tony Wright, Labour chairman of the Public Administration Committee, has called it “wretched”, and Sir Christopher Kelly, chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, said it was used only for self-promotion.
In May David Cameron said at Prime Minister’s Questions: “Let us be honest: taxpayers are effectively paying out thousands of pounds so we can all tell our constituents what a wonderful job we are all doing. We have all done it; we all know the facts. Is not this a gigantic waste of money?”
But MPs were furious that the allowance was to go and protested to party whips and Ms Harman’s office. “MPs were spitting that this allowance was to be removed. They have been fighting tooth and claw to keep every bit of it that they could,” said a source close to the negotiations.
Now Ms Harman appears to have bowed to pressure from MPs."
Having visited more than a few of these web sites - it is hard to disagree with the view that they are a complete waste of millions of pounds of public money.
