MPs in Northern Ireland get special attention
Northern Irish MPs are targeted by Sir Christopher Kelly for special attention.
His report strongly recommends the end of “double-jobbing” – where MPs sit in both Westminster and the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Sir Christopher questions “whether it is possible to sit in two national legislatures simultaneously and do justice to both roles”. He points out that sixteen out of 18 Northern Irish MPs are in this position. He recommends that ideally the double-jobbing should stop by 2011.
He also moved to stop MPs who rarely come to Parliament from claiming for the costs of full-time accommodation in the capital.
Sir Christopher’s recommendation came after The Daily Telegraph disclosed that five Sinn Fein MPs claimed over £100,000 in one year for London flats – despite not attending the House of Commons.
The MPs have since decided to use hotels when they stay in London.
Sir Christopher welcomed the decision of the Sinn Fein MPs but recommended that if an MP’s attendance in London was “infrequent”, the expenses regulator “should be prepared to question expenses claims” in the future.
Before 2001, Sinn Fein MPs were banned from claiming expenses because they did not sit in Parliament. In the report, Sir Christopher said that the decision to allow Sinn Fein MPs to claim expenses had been a “political” decision and the change was “widely believed to be related to the then ongoing discussions in the Northern Ireland peace process.”
