Brown backs call for immediate publishing of expenses online

THE Prime Minister today backed a call from Tory leader David Cameron that MPs' expense claims should be published online as soon as they are put in to improve transparency.

After a wave of public anger over the disclosure of dozens of claims made by MPs, Gordon Brown said the system had to be "wholly fair", adding: "We must prove ourselves worthy of the public's trust."

He said MPs must apologise for mistakes made, rectify errors and reconstruct the system in a way that rebuilds public confidence in the political process.

Mr Cameron called for the Prime Minister to show greater leadership – by abolishing the £10,000 a year communications allowance and reducing the number of MPs in the Commons.

The mounting public furore over MPs' expenses dominated question time exchanges, with Mr Cameron repeatedly pressing Mr Brown to go further on immediate change and the Prime Minister stressing the need for independent scrutiny.

Mr Cameron said it was "time to wake up and see what's going on in the country", accusing Mr Brown of failing to show leadership on the issue, and insisting: "How can we bring about the change the country needs if we can't change ourselves."

Mr Brown said he was showing leadership by telling all sides they needed to act and he was sorry Mr Cameron had chosen to "divide" the House on the issue.

Challenged by Labour's Howard Stoate (Dartford) on how the Government should respond to "public anger" about MPs' expenses, Mr Brown said: "Our responsibility is to create a system of MPs' allowances that is transparent and will be seen by the country as wholly fair.

"We must prove ourselves worthy of the public's trust. We must apologise for mistakes that have been made. We must rectify all the errors that have happened. And we must reconstruct the system in a way that the public will see as building confidence in the political process.

"I believe the steps that were taken last night by the Members' Allowance Committee are the first and important steps in dealing with this matter for the whole of the House together."

Mr Cameron said: "The first word you said was the need for transparency.

"One thing we could do, pretty much right now, is to publish our expenses online, the moment we actually put in a claim.

"Shouldn't this happen online in real time and MPs from all parties should do this now."

Mr Brown said: "Yes. I understand that the MAC is looking at this issue.
"I think it is important that there is a transparent system – that when a claim is reported to the fees office, the fees office can then itself put that up on the internet...

"I hope that will be introduced as soon as possible.

"I hope every Member of the House will agree that if trust in politics dissipates or disappears then the whole political system cannot work properly.

"We all have a duty now to make sure that the agreements we come to and the independent reviews that are made are such that can restore confidence in the system.

"With regard to the proposal from the MAC last night, I think it is now very important as they have suggested that the receipts and payments over the last four years be scrutinised by a body that includes people completely independent of the political system.

"By doing that for all MPs over a period of four years we can show the public we have taken every action necessary to deal with any anomalies, to repair them and build the confidence that's necessary in the political system for the future.

"This is a matter all parties will want to be engaged in and it's important we do it now."