MP expenses scandal 'appalling' says information chief

Published on Sunday 21 June 2009 23:14

SCOTLAND'S information commissioner, Kevin Dunion, has branded MPs "disingenuous" over the withholding of details of their expenses claims.

He said the redaction looked "appalling" and expressed concerns over the amount of detail that had been blacked out

"A year ago, parliamentarians in Westminster voted for this information not only to be blacked out from their receipts, but to be taken outside the scope of freedom on information altogether," he said.

"If you want to ask what lies behind that black ink, in Scotland you might be able to do so. In England, you simply cannot because MPs took themselves outside the scope of freedom of information. I think it's quite disingenuous now to claim this is the fault of parliamentary staff."

Meanwhile, MPs are scrambling to quit lucrative second jobs ahead of new rules next month.

Among them are shadow universities secretary David Willetts, who gets 80,000 a year for advising a pensions company; shadow cabinet office minister Francis Maude who has three directorships; and shadow housing minister Grant Shapps, believed to be paid over 100,000 for heading his own printing company.

Shadow Treasury minister David Gauke has quit as director of internet bank Ivobank. Shadow environment minister Gregory Barker will also quit his 40,000-a-year adviser's job.

David Cameron's shadow cabinet earn a total of at least an extra 2.7 million a year, according to a newspaper investigation.