Parliamentary Standards Bill

I very much enjoyed the speech by my hon. Friend the Member for Chichester (Mr. Tyrie), who conducted himself in a typically measured and cautious way. I may be about to be less cautious in my response to the Bill. The real test for the Bill is to ask whether it will make Parliament work better, whether it will make better MPs, and whether it will really address the anger that British people feel about MPs. I would submit that it will not, as currently drafted. Our expenses claims are not the sole source of the despair about politics and politicians in our country: the disillusionment of voters has far more profound causes. My hon. Friend the Member for Windsor (Adam Afriyie) spoke about the role of MPs. Why does Parliament exist? It exists, and it has always existed, to protect the public interest and the freedom of the citizen. It does so in three ways: by holding the Executive to account to prevent the abuse of power; by ensuring that legislation is well drafted and fit for purpose; and by scrutinising public spending to ensure value for the taxpayer. That is what we should be doing in this House for our constituents, but are we collectively doing a good job? In recent decades MPs have become increasingly ineffective, and much of the public anger now directed at MPs over expenses must be attributed to that wider failure. I have come to support the principle of independent regulation of MPs' expenses, as I set out in a supplementary letter to the chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, who raised the question with a group of MPs who were giving him informal evidence. However, it is perfectly possible for the Bill to achieve the objective of independent regulation without compromising fundamental constitutional principles that have underpinned our democracy for more than 300 years.