Expenses review 'will divide MPs by class'

MPs yesterday rounded on the civil servant appointed to root out corruption from Parliament, as more details emerged of the restrictions they could face on their expenses.

When Sir Christophern Kelly's report is published on November 4, he is expected to recommend cutting tens of thousands of pounds of compensation paid to MPs who retire or lose their seats and propose no MP whose seat is within an hour's train journey of Westminster should be entitled to claim for a second home. He will also say MPs should be banned from employing family members.

One Tory MP has said he would close his Commons office altogether and work from home and his constituency office.

Charles Walker, whose Hertfordshire seat is less than an hour's train journey from London, accused Kelly of finding a "bureaucratic solution" instead of making all MPs' expenses taxable at 40 per cent and leaving the Inland Revenue to decide which counted as legitimate.

"We're well on the way to creating two tiers of MPs - those that are wealthy enough to afford a second home and can stay in London after a day in Parliament, and those who will have to scurry back to their constituencies."

Other MPs vented their fury personally on Sir Christopher and on Sir Thomas Legg, the former civil servant brought in to audit past expenses claims.

One senior Tory said: "These are people on pensions bigger than an MP's salary who cannot understand why any of us should have the temerity to disagree with them just because we have been elected."

Another Tory MP, Roger Gale, who faces having to sack his wife, Suzy, who has worked in his constituency office for 27 years, said: "We're being sacrificed on the altar of public opinion. This is civil service populism mixed with party political populism, and it's a cheap shot."

BIG LOSERS

Some of the biggest losers could be the 200 or more MPs whose political careers will end next year. MPs are currently entitled to a resettlement grant of up to £64,000 ($145,000) to help their transition to life out of politics. It is thought the Kelly review has proposed cutting that to less than £10,000.

- INDEPENDENT