Is this really the end of the MPs gravy train?
MPs will be banned from using taxpayers' cash to splash out on furniture and improve their homes, a Commons review has recommended today.
But they will still be able to claim up to £19,600 tax-free every year to cover the cost of running a second home.
Parliamentarians should also be entitled to claim £30 a day - or nearly £5,000-a-year - for subsistence without receipts.
The conclusions came in a long-awaited report from the Members Estimates Committee, which has been considering how to restore public trust in MPs’ expenses after a string of scandals.
VIDEO: WHAT DO MPs ACTUALLY CLAIM FROM THE TAXPAYER?
There was outrage last month when it emerged that former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott pocketed £7,000 in expenses for sprucing up his mock Tudor mansion in Hull. Close Blair ally Peter Mandelson claimed nearly £3,000 to revamp a bathroom.
Junior Pensions Minister Barbara Follett, wife of millionaire novelist Ken Follett, claimed more than £1,600 for window-cleaning at their London home – at £94 a time.
And former Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett claimed a total of £12,170 for house repairs.
Today, as well as effectively spelling the end of the so-called “John Lewis List”, the committee called for better auditing procedures.
At least one in five MPs would face “spot checks” on their claims and, except for the subsistence allowance, all claims “however small” would require receipts from 2009/10.
The committee said: “Our overriding conclusion is that we must introduce a robust system of scrutiny for parliamentary allowances as a matter of urgency in order to build public confidence.
“We recommend that, with immediate effect, Members should no longer be able to claim reimbursement for furniture and household goods or for capital improvements.”
The committee, led by Commons Speaker Michael Martin, said MPs should be permitted to keep profits from selling on properties funded by the taxpayer.
“Property values can go down as well as up, and some MPs who left Parliament at the 1992 general election - after a property crash - faced losses.
“The property market is currently looking rocky once again, so the same could happen. An MP who chooses to buy not rent is taking a risk.”
The report rejected other options for replacing the Additional Costs Allowance (ACA), under which MPs can claim up to £24,006 towards running their second homes.
It branded the idea of buying or building Parliamentary flats in central London as “neither feasible nor affordable” in “one of the most densely populated, expensive and mature property markets in the world”.
VIDEO: WHAT DO MPs ACTUALLY CLAIM FROM THE TAXPAYER?
Scrapping the allowance altogether and boosting salaries from around £61,000 to more than £102,000 had attracted “both strong support and firm opposition”.
But the plan would be extremely complex, requiring major adjustments to pensions and income tax arrangements, according to the committee.
Giving MPs a daily “flat rate” of £30 subsistence and £140 for accommodation - up to a maximum of 140 days per year - was also “not recommended”.
The Commons is due to vote on the recommendations on July 3 - the same day as they decide their own pay rises.
TaxPayers’ Alliance chief executive Matthew Elliott said: “None of the three options will restore the public’s faith in the House of Commons because the system will still operate behind closed doors, away from the gaze of taxpayers and voters.
“It is all very well saying that MPs won’t be allowed to claim for top-of-the-range kitchens and expensive TVs, but without full transparency this will undoubtedly creep back in.
“Without this guarantee, the majority of honest MPs will continue to be tarred with the same brush as the small minority who have acted like crooks.”
