Cameron announces immediate action on MPs' expenses

David Cameron has announced a series of immediate measures on expenses to ensure that Conservative MPs live by the values of “responsibility and thrift”.

He said that the issue of expenses had done “much to undermine our whole political process” and apologised for the action of some Conservative MPs and the fact that the issue had "come to this”.

David explained that members of the Shadow Cabinet will pay back expense claims that have caused concern – and he announced that a new Scrutiny Panel will examine every excessive claim by any Conservative MPs and decide if the money should be paid back:

“Conservative MPs who have made excessive expense claims will have to go in front of that Scrutiny Panel and pay back the money agreed or they will no longer be Conservative MPs. It is as simple as that.”

David also announced a number of actions that will apply to Conservative MPs and will be implemented before the launch of Sir Christopher Kelly’s report on expenses:

• An immediate ban on all MPs claiming furniture, other household goods and daily subsistence allowance. Only rent, mortgage interest, overnight hotel bills, utility bills, service charges and council taxes can be claimed by Conservative MPs.
• Every claim made to the Fees Office will be published immediately online, starting straight away for the Shadow Cabinet and as soon as possible for all MPs.
• No Conservative MP will be allowed to re-designate their first and second homes for the purposes of the Additional Cost Allowance (ACA) without approval by the Chief Whip.
• From now on, anyone selling a home for which mortgage interest is currently paid for by the ACA must confirm they will pay Capital Gains Tax on it.

David warned that "these actions alone will not fix out broken politics" and that “it will take time and effort to repair a system that has been allowed to deteriorate over many years”.

But he stressed, “If we win the next election, we will be asking the whole country to come together to show social responsibility, personal responsibility and thrift – so the least we can do is ask Parliament to live by those values as well.”