It's been a difficult few months for MPs with the enquiry into MP 'second home' expenses. Like many MPs, I had checked all my expenses claims - I thought I was ok, but there was always the nightmare that maybe I had overlooked something. So I was delighted when the inquiry led by Sir Thomas Legg confirmed my 'second home' Parliamentary expenses were 100% OK. It was good to have this confirmation, particularly as Legg's team had gone into MP expenses with a fine toothcomb and scrutinised us all in great detail - as is only right and proper given the exposures about what some MPs had been up to.
I have to say, though, the way that the publication of the 'Legg findings' were dealt with was far from satisfactory. First of all, material has been all over the papers over the last few days, but back bench MPs, at least, had no idea what was going on. Then today we were told we would get letters about 9 am - then 12 noon - then later - and it was only at 7 pm that the letters were handed out. Many MPs not surprisingly were getting very distressed at the delay - I was on the train from Edinburgh, so I didn't have the same problem - but it was certainly not handled well. Anyhow, hopefully we can now move forward and begin to restore the trust in Parliament which this whole expenses episode has severely undermined.
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I'm sure you'll understand that that there is little sympathy out here in the real world for MPs having to wait for information.
So often we ordinary people have to wait for information from a government department, or the NHS and we wait and wait and then we wait some more, sometimes for weeks. And when we complain we get a very rude brush off.
Some among you (I note not you, yourself) have managed to get away with over £100,000 of overpaid expenses.
Please can you persuade some of your colleagues to see that we are so very vey sick of all this.
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