Ethos Public Relations Manchester

No expenses spared

by Sean

The sorry spectacle of MPs scrabbling to keep their expenses secret probably bemuses most of us. For people like me involved in running a business, I am sure it appears even more ludicrous. The thought of anyone trying to hide their expenses or deliberately claiming for things they weren't supposed to claim for would be pretty outrageous. Openness and accountability are essential in business. Why should it be any different for MPs?

The irony is, I think most reasonable people recognise that MPs have a unique job - with homes in different places, a lot of travel and many social expenses - and most of us would probably expect them to be able to claim for many more things that those of us in other jobs wouldn't need to.

A clear, publicly-accessible expenses policy, with claims open to public scrutiny is long overdue. To me, anything less would be unacceptable. After all it's our money they're spending!

Posted at 9:23am on 27^th May 2008