Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill

We will, of course, keep a continuing interest in those discussions, but let me also say the following. I employed people under Short money when I was in the shadow Cabinet for 10 years and on the shadow Front Bench for 17 years. The truth is that those employed under Short money are subject to far fewer, if any, restrictions than special advisers. I know that to my certain knowledge. I should also mention that the amount of Short money available to the Opposition has trebled in the past dozen years, although they have not made much use of it.