Vote on MP expenses shelved
Wednesday, 21 January 2009 5:32 PM
By Laura Miller and Alex Stevenson
Downing Street has abandoned a controversial vote to keep MPs' expenses private.
The government had said Labour MPs would be forced to vote through a bill banning the release of ministers' expenses, denying them a free vote of conscience on the issue tomorrow.
But the vote was unceremoniously dropped today, with parliamentary insiders confirming Gordon Brown's suggestion to the Commons that the government was shocked by the Tories changing their position on the subject 24 hours ago.
Downing Street denied a U-turn, insisting that "the government has taken a completely consistent position" throughout.
The prime minister's spokesman argued the government was prepared to use a statutory instrument to "facilitate the will of the House" but that, because the Conservatives had withdrawn their backing for the proposals, a vote would no longer be appropriate.
"I think the package we have on the table represents a significant enhancement in the transparency of MPs' expenses," he added.
The move may have been a bid to avoid Labour rebels embarrassing the government. An early day motion tabled by Liberal Democrat Jo Swinson and backed by a number of Labour MPs including David Winnick, Kate Hoey and Lynne Jones.
And one Labour MP told politics.co.uk he would have considered voting against the party line because the measures did not have a "wider remit" covering other senior public officials.
Such concerns are now irrelevant following the government's U-turn, leaving it facing criticism for its initial stance on the issue.
"This is a humiliating climbdown for Gordon Brown after he was forced to accept that people will not tolerate MPs continuing to act like members of a secret society," Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg said.
Freedom of information (FOI) campaigners, journalists and some MPs levelled anger at the government last week after it emerged it would push for the exemption.
"Shameless" was how a full-page advert in the Times today described the exclusion of MPs expenses from the FOI act.
Civil liberties groups Unlock Democracy and Enoughsenough.org commissioned the advert as part of their campaign to further "democracy, rights and freedoms in the UK".
They claimed the government was trying to bury the vote on MPs' expenses amid blanket coverage of the Obama inauguration.
"Is it really a coincidence that the government chose this week to sneak through a law to exempt MP's expenses from public scrutiny?" asked Peter Facey, director of Unlock Democracy.
He also questioned the government's decision to announce the FoI order - which permits the government to retrospectively void all pending FOI requests regarding members' expense claims, as well as blocking any future ones - "with minimal notice or fanfare" on the day news of the Heathrow expansion broke.
The government had hoped to create a special category within the FOI Act for ministers and peers of the realm so they would no longer be required to reveal how much of taxpayers' money they spend on travel, staffing and furnishing second homes.
Mr Facey said after the announcement: "This was a clear victory of people power.
"Congratulations to the tens of thousands of people who wrote to their MP, jammed the House of Commons switchboard, emailed, texted and tweeted their friends, blogged and signed up to the various internet protest groups: you made a real difference today."
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