MPs' expenses scandal is damaging Parliament, says Hansard Society

Ruth Fox, Director of the Hansard Society's Parliament and Government programme said:

'Members of the Commons must publicly acknowledge the extent of the damage being done to the standing of Parliament by the debacle over MPs' expenses and allowance claims. They must take direct responsibility for explaining and defending their actions and not hide behind statements about claims being within the rules. 

‘In a public opinion poll conducted for the Hansard Society in June 2008, we found that just 19% of the public thought Parliament was working for them. Today, the disclosures over MPs' expense and allowance claims leaves public confidence in politicians and our political process at a nadir. This body-blow has weakened both our representative parliamentary system, and the ability of all MPs to do the job they were elected to. The controversy has obscured the hard work that most MPs do in their constituencies and at Westminster.

‘We are calling on MPs individually, and collectively, to take a positive lead. MPs' expenses must be based on the principles that they are genuinely related to parliamentary duties, and that it is completely unacceptable for MPs to make a profit at public expense.

‘In addition, the Commons must wholeheartedly support, and co-operate with, the inquiry being conducted by the Committee on Standards in Public Life and respond urgently and positively to its recommendations.

‘The Commons must rise to the challenge to re-establish trust and confidence in the UK's representative parliamentary system. Anything less will have serious and long-term consequences for our democracy. '

Ruth Fox is available for interview - contact Virginia Gibbons at the Hansard Society on mediaprog@hansard.lse.ac.uk or 020 7438 1225 or 07812 765 552

Editors' Notes

• The Hansard Society is the UK's leading independent, non-partisan political research and education charity.We aim to strengthen parliamentary democracy and encourage greater public involvement in politics.
• The Hansard Society was established in 1944 to promote the ideals of the parliamentary system of government and to ensure that democracy would be safeguarded by being understood, debated and improved by parliamentarians and the public.
• The Parliament & Government Programme undertakes cutting edge, high quality research in the field of politics and democracy. The only research programme of its kind in the UK,our core area of work is focused on reform of the Westminster Parliament. As such our innovative research isat the forefront of debate about the role of Parliament and parliamentarians, the future of representative democracy, andthe public's engagement with politics and the political process. As Parliament's 'critical friend' we have a long-standing reputation for developing challenging but realistic and workable policy recommendations to reform Parliament, particularly in the field of legislative scrutiny, many of which have subsequentlybeen implemented at Westminster