Brown makes his move on expenses
By politics.co.uk staff
Gordon Brown has made his move on expenses, just hours after Tory leader David Cameron instigated internal reform of the Conservative party.
The prime minister said every expenses claim over the four years will be independently scrutinised.
Some Labour figures will also be paying money back, in a manner similar to that operating on the Tory front benches.
Communities secretary Hazel Blears, who has come under pressure to resign over her expenses claims, will be paying £13,332 over capital gains tax on the sale of her ‘second’ home.
“It affected me personally, what people said in Salford where I and my family live,” she said.
“I’ve heard absolutely the outrage and the anger the public feel about what has been going on.”
Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg told his MPs they will have to hand back profit from the sale of their second homes as well, now the third party have been made the focus of the Daily Telegraph campaign.
Mr Brown asked the cross-party member’s allowance committee to draw up its own plans for immediate reforms after Mr Cameron’s press conference, although he denied following the Tory leader.
“This is a radical move but it is necessary,” he told the BBC.
“I have been discussing this for days and we have been looking at this matter for some time. We had hoped to make some progress yesterday and now all parties are prepared to accept this.”
The committee also agreed that MPs would no longer be able to ‘flip’ the designation of their second home, which has allowed them to funnel public money towards whichever property they wish to spend money on.
