Malcolm Moss MP: New Parliamentary Standards Bill will not restore public trust in politics

The Parliamentary Standards Bill was this week rushed through the House of Commons, resulting in a lack of sufficient Parliamentary scrutiny. Only three days were set aside for debating the far-reaching constitutional implications of the bill, with no time for a Third Reading at all.

Introduced in the wake of the expenses row, the bill has two main purposes. It seeks to establish an Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) to deal with all expenses claims made by MPs, and an officer known as the Commissioner for Parliamentary Investigations. It also makes provisions relating to salaries and allowances for members of the House of Commons and to their financial interests and conduct.

One of the most controversial clauses introduced by the Government in the bill was voted down after MPs from all parties were concerned it would remove the freedom of speech in the Commons known as “parliamentary privilege”. This freedom to ask critical questions without fearing prosecution in the courts is crucial for MPs to properly represent their constituents in the Commons.

Another important issue, but one which was rejected by the Government, was the inclusion of a so-called “sunset clause” in the legislation. This would have enabled a review of the bill to take place after one year. A sunset clause is normally included for all emergency legislation, and even the Government’s own guidelines state that a sunset clause should be included when the “regulation is responding to a particular crisis or to political and public pressure.” The rejection of this by the Government represents a missed opportunity to make sure that the new system is coherent, transparent, and effective.

Malcolm Moss MP said: “Labour has tried to brand our legitimate concerns about the shortcomings of this Bill as reluctance to reform. They are mistaken. While we all agree that we need to clean up the expenses system, I am worried that this bill has been rushed through without proper scrutiny. We need more time to come up with a well thought-out and well functioning system. The lack of proper debate means that this is nothing but a jumbled and incoherent muddle of a bill. It will do nothing to create the simple and transparent system that is so needed to restore people’s trust in politics.”

Mr Moss added: “I am very pleased we won the vote on parliamentary privilege. I have taken up the problems of many constituents in Parliament, and it is crucial that MPs retain the right to represent local people and to hold the Government to account without fearing possible prosecution in court.”