Harman unveils parliamentary reform
Harriet Harman, who will make a statement on the bill as leader of the House
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Tuesday, 23, Jun 2009 04:32
By politics.co.uk staff
Harriet Harman has unveiled the government's package of parliamentary reforms, in a bid to move on from the expenses scandal.
Earlier, Gordon Brown described the package as "an apology to the nation".
An independent body called the Parliamentary Standards Authority will be established to authorise and scrutinise expenses claims.
It will have the power to fine – or even expel – MPs.
Today's proposals will also force MPs to disclose details of outside financial interests, including second jobs.
New criminal offences will be created for knowingly making false claims for allowance and contravening, without reasonable excuse, the rules for paid advocacy.
Committee stage, report, and third reading will be taken on the floor of the House, in a break from the usual procedure.
Ms Harman said: "The abuse by some members of our allowance system has caused a high level of public concern and has required this comprehensive range of actions to ensure that we can say to the public – in the words of… [unsuccessful Speaker candidate Parmjit Dhanda] – we get it and we're sorting it."
The leader of the House said she hoped there would be sufficient consensus for the bill to receive royal assent by the time parliament rises for the summer recess on July 21st.
She also reiterated plans in the bill for all MPs to reveal any secondary source of income by July 1st.
In an article for the Daily Mail today, Mr Brown wrote: "Trust has been destroyed by some of the people who are relied upon as the stewards of responsibility and fairness in society.
"We cannot move on until we have addressed people's anger."
Opposition parties expressed frustration with the large scale of the redactions seen in the publication of MPs' expenses last week.
Shadow leader of the House Alan Duncan said the "big black splodges… looked like censorship on a massive scale, even if it wasn't", and described the publication as "an unmitigated PR disaster".
Liberal Democrat business manager David Heath agreed that "acres of black space is a redaction to the absurd".
Sir Thomas Legg is to lead a team establishing which expenses claims from the last four years need to be paid back. The independent audit, Ms Harman said, has already begun.
She added that "the question of redaction will be looked at again" with advice begin taken from the information commissioner.