MP allowed flat expenses

Published 6 Apr 2010 09:00 0 Comments

BRACKNELL'S next MP will still be able to claim expenses for staying in London under new rules.

But nearby MPs for Reading East, Reading West, Windsor -which will include Binfield and Warfield from the next election - and Maidenhead will be expected to commute home each night or pay their own accommodation costs.

MP Andrew MacKay is standing down after being ordered to repay around £30,000 of inadmissable claims.

When asked about the new rules, announced by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority on Monday, he said: "No comment, because I won't be in the next election."

The six candidates vying for Mr MacKay's seat were grilled about expenses claims by Sixth Formers at a hustings event at Easthampstead Park Community School on Wednesday last week.

Tory candidate, Dr Phillip Lee, who lives in Bisham near Maidenhead, said: "I will get a bolt hole in London and claim rent as allowed.

"My belief is that I am elected to serve my time in Westminster so I will spend my time in Westminster." Labour rival John Piasecki, who lives in Great Hollands, added: "I think many MPs need to have some kind of base. Small rented accommodation is quite adequate."

But Lib Dem Ray Earwicker, from Owlsmoor, said: "I do not see the need to purchase separate accommodation. Another option is a hostel for MPs."

The new rules mean that MPs can no longer claim allowances to help repay a mortgage on a second home and non-London MPs will instead get up to £17,400 a year for rent.

Non-London MPs are those who live further than 20 miles from the capital or who can make the journey in less than an hour.

Trains from London Waterloo to Bracknell can take between 59 minutes to one hour and two minutes and the last train on week nights leaves London at around 11.40pm.

Bracknell's UKIP candidate, Murray Barter, who lives on the Ascot/Bracknell border, said he thought that Parliament should operate from 9am-5pm, removing the need for MPs to stay overnight in the capital.

He said: "There are very late votes going on past 11pm or 12am."

Green candidate David Young, from Birch Hill, said: "MPs do not have very long hours over the year and they have long holidays. If elected I would hope to commute. If I was required to stay later I would stay in a hotel. I think a bolt hole would cost more than a hotel every so often."

Mark Burke for the BNP, from Ruscombe, added: "If you have your own home that is it. We will rent. There really is no need for someone to have a second home for being an MP."

Graphic designer Chris Flint, who commutes from Martin's Heron to London, said: "I don't think it is justified that Bracknell MPs get financial help to stay in London just because their journey time is half an hour longer than neighbouring towns like Reading and Windsor.

"Many local commuters like myself have to make the journey every day, and I find it unfair that Bracknell MPs get to spend the night in London while everyone else has to travel home, not to mention the added cost of putting them up for the night.

"I think these people need to realise that they're in public service and given the existing controversy around MPs' expenses, they need to start setting an example that wins back public trust."

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This article appeared in Villager 01 Apr 10

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