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The sandal around the elaborate expense claims by British MP’s.

The hot topic in the news recently has been elaborate expenses claims by British MP’s, among others, these have included fees to clean a MP’s swimming pool, taxi trips to the shop by MP’s wives and Ruth Kelly’s claim for a sofa.

For the past week, the Daily Telegraph has published details of expense claims made by MPs over the last four years. It began with government ministers, but then went on to reveal the expenses of leading Conservative and Liberal Democrat MP’s.

MP’s say they were acting within the rules and in were often encouraged to spend up to £20,000 a year on their ‘second-home allowance’ by the Commons fees office. However, most MP’s have now admitted the system is in urgent need of reform.

In Kelly’s case, the MP for Bolton West, £2350 was claimed for a dining table and chairs, while £2000 was claimed for a plasma TV and accessories. Meanwhile George Mundie, MP for Leeds East, claimed almost £17,000 from the taxpayer for furniture and renovations to his second home in London. However, it is not just a few MP’s that are under scrutiny. All MP’s claims have now been published and every MP in the House of Commons is having their expenses looked at in detail, both by parliament and by the media.

As various stories have emerged about MP’s expenses, interest has grown in the scandal. MP’s voting records have also been analysed in order to see whether they were in favour of politicians publishing their expenses. In many cases, MP’s have voted against increased transparency, and many members of the UK public feel that the Commons has lost a great deal of credibility.

Most recently, the speaker of the House of Commons, Michael Martin, who is responsible for chairing debates in Parliament, stepped down because of the expenses row, becoming the first Speaker to be forced out of office for 300 years. MP’s had decided Martin was not fit to lead under the circumstances, after he failed to show sufficient remorse in the immediate aftermath of the scandal.

MP’s are in a great hurry to pay back money to parliament, in order to save their credibility. So far, £120,000 has been returned. MP’s are worried that they will now be in a poor light by the general public, regardless of if the expenses system is reformed. There is also a concern that extremist parties will receive more votes in the aftermath of the scandal.