EASTLEIGH MP PUBLISHES ALL CLAIMS AND CALLS FOR TOUGHER EXPENSES SYSTEM (Eastleigh Liberal Democrats)

Eastleigh Liberal Democrats <enquiries@eastleighlibdems.org.uk>

EASTLEIGH MP PUBLISHES ALL CLAIMS AND CALLS FOR TOUGHER EXPENSES SYSTEM

May 13, 2009 10:00 AM

Eastleigh MP Chris Huhne has become the first MP to put his own claims for both office and second homes on his website for any constituent to inspect.

Mr Huhne said that openness was the best guarantee that public money would not be misspent, and that he had always approached his claims with the same principle as any claim in private business: if it is not needed for the business, don't claim.

"I am proud that I have the lowest second home claim of any Hampshire MP, claiming 17 per cent of the maximum, a fifth of David Cameron's claim, and ranking me as 580th out of 620 non-London MPs. I have nothing to hide, which is why I have put all the claims on my website" said Mr Huhne.

Mr Huhne said that only the Liberal Democrats were addressing the biggest scandal of MPs' expenses, which was the ability of MPs to make a personal profit from buying and selling property whose cost had been paid by the taxpayer.

"Every penny of money made on taxpayer subsidised housing ought to go back to the taxpayer, yet we have not had this commitment from David Cameron or Gordon Brown both of whom have used their allowances to buy second homes" said Mr Huhne.

"The Liberal Democrats began this whole business by insisting that MPs claims should be published under the Freedom of Information Act - the requests were put in by Norman Baker, the Lib Dem MP for Lewes - and we will go on until this mess is properly cleaned up and confidence in our politics is restored" said Mr Huhne.

Mr Huhne said that the three fundamental principles should be that MPs should only claim what is necessary to do the job, that they should be subject to the same tax laws and rules as everyone else, and that there should be complete openness about MPs' claims with all details published.

Notes:

1. All Chris Huhne's claims both for the costs of his office (where constituents visit him for surgery) and for his second home allowance are on his website. Some reporting has confused office claims (such as coffee and biscuits for constituents and parliamentary casework staff) and Mr Huhne's personal claims under the second home allowance. All are available here: http://www.chrishuhne.org.uk/news/000697/chris_huhnes_200506_to_200708_parliamentary_expenses.html

2. Chris Huhne has called for the removal of the exemption from income tax for MPs for the second homes allowance, so that MPs would be treated in exactly the same way as any other taxpayer putting in claims for expenses necessary to do the job. The exemption is in section 292 of the Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003, which states that no income tax liability arises from allowances paid to MPs for "additional expenses necessarily incurred by the Member in staying overnight away from the Member's only or main residence for the purpose of performing parliamentary duties".