Government U-turn on MP Expenses

3.56.14pm GMT Wed 21st Jan 2009

Commenting on the Government's U-turn over the publication of MPs' expenses, Jo Swinson MP said,

"I'm delighted that the Government has backed down from its renewed plans to keep the detail of MPs' expenses secret, but it's disgraceful that they tried to rush through these proposals to exempt MPs from transparency in the first place.

This is a real victory for people power, as thousands of people have contacted their MPs in recent days to protest, and this has clearly created enough pressure on the Government to force a rethink. In particular, organisations like MySociety and Unlock Democracy have used Facebook, Twitter and the power of social networking to mobilise support quickly.

The Government and House of Commons authorities must now give a clear date for the publication of the full expenses, already delayed from the original date of last autumn."

Jo kick-started the campaign against the Government's plans, by tabling a Parliamentary motion and using social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook to publicise it and encourage a mass lobby of MPs by constituents.

Jo, who has previously challenged the Government on delays in publishing the expenses, publishes her expenses on a quarterly basis.

Related Links:

Jo Swinson's Parliamentary Expenses July - September 2008

Jo Swinson's Parliamentary Expenses April - June 2008