June 10, 2008
Are MPs the best people to police themselves?
The Commitee for Standards in Public Life, the Commons watchdog, doesn’t seem to think so.
Today it showed its thinly disguised disdain for the members estimate committee, chaired by Speaker Michael Martin, which is reviewing expenses and perks and is due to report in the summer.
The standards committee issued a statement of principles which - it suggests - should “govern Parliament’s review of MPs’ allowances”.
It the outcome of the current review fails to command public confidence, it says, then the committee “is prepared to undertake its own independent review of the issues involved”.
