Stop blaming the Fees Office

Some of my Facebook friends and people on my blog have asked for my comments on parliamentary expenses - an issue which has really poisoned the relationship between Parliament and the electorate.

No doubt about that.

Some of the claims, if proven, appear to border on being criminal.

But some were exaggerated by the Telegraph, like the claim for a single bath plug which was part of an overal bill for a bathroom.

In my case, the three pieces of wood on the front of my house were part of an overall bill for replacing rotten woodwork throughout a building that's over 100 years old.

Likewise, I've had to put up with the media talking about two toilet seats and how the taxpayer had to pay for them.

So I've decided to take this opportunity to tell you the truth. In my own time - not within the three hour deadline originally set by the Telegraph.

I bought ONE toilet seat (and NEVER claimed for it) but because it was an old Victorian toilet and the seat was modern, it didn't fit properly. If you're really interested, the seat was a metric measurement, the toilet was imperial.

So in December 2004, a plumber charged £210.79 for repairs to soil pipework and leaking water taps in the toilet. Whilst he was repairing the old Victorian toilet, he also refitted the seat. In 2006 we had to get new taps in the bathroom. But whilst the plumber was there, he refixed the same seat as it kept getting loose. The total repair bill, which was mostly for the bathroom work, was £112.52.

In fact it never really solved the problem. So I finally I chose to completely refurbish the bathroom and the toilets.  All paid for by myself, without a penny charged back to the taxpayer.

So these were overall maintenance bills for plumbing and replacing woodwork in a Victorian House.

But if you look at the Telegraph's headline and subsequent coverage by the media, you're led to believe that I was claiming for two toilet seats in two years. Wrong.

All these maintenance bills were cleared by the Fees Office. However, for people to totally blame them is completely unacceptable when you consider that they were judging each claim by the Green Book. Rules designed and voted upon by Members of Parliament.

That is why last Wednesday, I went to the Fees Office and asked to speak with the staff. I got them all together and apologised on behalf of some of my fellow MPs who had placed excessive blame at their door. I felt it had to be done.

I remember when this problem began.

When I was first elected in 1970, I was handed a key to a cupboard as there was no office, given an allowance for only half a member of staff and a limited amount of free envelopes for correspondence to my constituents.

A number of us began a campaign to secure a full time office worker, to have an office and that no MP should have a paid second job - which I have observed throughout my near 40 years as the Member of Parliament for Hull East.

We were successful in establishing a Register of Member's Interests and an allowance for that full time staff member - opposed by those Tory MPs that had paid second jobs.

We also eventually won the concession that an MP's wage should be tied to a civil servant grade, so ending the practise of us voting on our own pay deals.

But that was broken by successive governments who refused to allow the pay rises which meant we went back to voting on our own wages.

I recall Bob Mellish, our Chief Whip in the mid 70s, telling us at the PLP that the Government was not allowing the MPs wage award but the new alllowances would be more generous and they'd allow a 'liberal interpretation.'

This led to my first row with Bob about this policy, which I told him would end in tears.

35 years later we have become the architects of this sorry situation which now must be fundamentally reformed. I'm glad to see that this is finally under way.

As you're aware, I announced my retirement over a year ago. And ironically I find Parliament in the same turmoil over wages and allowances as it was when I first started.

The major difference is that the public are now demanding major reform.

Echoing their call are some of my parliamentary colleagues who unfortunately didn't join me in that fight back in the 1970s. There weren't many millionaire parliamentarians demanding reform back then.

So now let's take the next logical step.

One member, one job.