David Maddox: MPs' failure to grasp reality means only election will 'draw a line' under scandal

AS MPs wearily responded to the verdicts delivered on them by the former civil servant Sir Thomas Legg, there was one constant refrain repeated by almost all of those who were willing to face the public.

"Hopefully, this will draw a line under the whole saga," they said again and again.

They may be thoroughly tired of the whole show and the justified public anger, but if MPs believe this is an end to the issue, then they are clearly subject to bouts of wild optimism.

Today, even as the dust settles on the Legg Report, the Crown Prosecution Service will be making announcements about action it intends to take against some MPs.

Whatever the announcement made by the CPS, the knock-on effect will mean that the issue of MPs' expenses will be at the forefront of voters' minds when they go to the polls later this year.

Either there will be the unseemly sight of MPs hauled before the courts to answer for their alleged misdemeanours, or there will be allegations of a whitewash and cover-up.

But it is the court of public opinion, rather than the Old Bailey, that will ensure the effects of this scandal will rumble on for years to come.

The sheer scale of the way MPs abused their positions has created a genuine crisis of confidence in the democratic process.

Even the enormous figures quoted yesterday – 1.1 million to be returned and 52 per cent of MPs asked to pay up – will go nowhere near satisfying the public thirst for revenge. The amount, when compared with the 55 million claimed in second-home allowances, will leave the impression that many MPs simply got away with it, as they did not break dodgy rules they invented for themselves.

It will not just be the moats, duck houses and bell towers that will be remembered, but the items that MPs were able to claim and did not have to pay back – 400 a month for food and 250 for petty cash each month.

Interestingly, in the expenses published yesterday for the first quarter of 2009-10, Scottish MPs claimed just short of 400,000 between them and several were still dipping their hands in for the free petty cash still available for them without the requirement of receipts.

It gave the impression that, while the excesses may be banned, not all the lessons have been learned, not helped by the fact that they seem to be preparing for a 15,000 pay rise once the election is out of the way.

But this attitude was reflected in another line used by many of those who were asked to cough up. "I am happy to accept Sir Thomas's judgment, but I didn't do anything wrong. I followed the rules."

They still just don't get it. And until they do, the issue will not go away.