Harman: The expenses crisis is going to get worse
James Forsyth 1:50pm
Having ruled out in almost Shermanesque terms standing in a leadership contest this side of the election, Harriet Harman is now one of the kingmakers. In an interview with the Guardian magazine, she makes a couple of key points. First, she’s clear that we haven’t reached the end of this crisis yet:
But she also rejects the idea of any instant constitutional reform, which is likely to be how Brown attempts to turn the page on a disastrous set of European and local election results:“And there's still more to come out - there's the office costs, then there's the travel, so we're still in the process. I think the distrust is going to deepen”
Restoring trust with Brown at the helm is going to be a nigh-on-impossible task for Labour. A change of leader, however, would make that a more realistic aim. Whether Harman accepts this analysis, though, is a different question.“Until such time as the public join in with that discussion, it's not one worth having. And at the moment they don't want to be joining in. You can't even begin to have a discussion with somebody about" - she adopts a silly voice - "'Oh, let's renew our democracy' when they wouldn't want to talk about it to us. Bob doesn't want to be having a discussion about how you'd engage in all the wider issues, because that trust has got to be rebuilt first, before people will engage in how we can use this moment to strengthen democracy. Democracy is not for us, it's for them. And until they're prepared to have a discussion with us about how we renew democracy, there's no renewing to be done."
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Rhoda Klapp
May 30th, 2009 2:45pm Report this commentWise words from Harman. Wonder where she read it?
JohnAnt
May 30th, 2009 2:59pm Report this commentOf course we're not going to discuss anything with Harman or Brown or any of them, we want them all OUT. We'll discuss any renewal processes with the next lot of MPs.
Verity
May 30th, 2009 3:45pm Report this commentSo what?
Diversity
May 30th, 2009 3:56pm Report this commentTranslation?
"Don't epect any leadership from Brown, or from the rest of us."
Tom Willis
May 30th, 2009 4:11pm Report this commentI think she's right, but I expect we will end up with short-termist, botched, half-baked reforms unless we riot.
I would place the incomplete and uneven devolution settlements, and the half-way House of Lords reform as relevant precedents.
Does politics know how to do considered, thorough, competent changes any more?
Jeremy
May 30th, 2009 4:14pm Report this comment"Harriet Harman is now one of the kingmakers."
Harriet Harman is one of those who actively attempted to exclude MPs' expenses from the Freedom of Information Act.
The members of this Parliament have no political mandate to "reform" the voting system. No such "reform" carried out by the members of this Parliament will carry with it either the trust or confidence of the voters. And no attempt at voting reform should be carried out until after the next General Election when, hopefully, new members may be found to carry it through - if, indeed, it is necessary at all - with more honour, impartiality and integrity than can be found amongst the members of our current Parliament.
Indeed, I would say that any attempt by the current Parliament to reform the voting system would smack of gerrymandering by the political class to ensure its continued survival in power irrespective of what the voters might think.
And that would widen an already lamentable gap between politicians and the public into a fully dangerous chasm.
Fausty
May 30th, 2009 4:20pm Report this commentQuite. The public want him to go because they do not trust him to put it right. But then Labour knows that - it just doesn't want to admit to anyone that it will hang onto power, pay, perks, exit parachute and pension like grim death.
Besides, with the Labour party being nearly £20 million in debt a few months ago, it can't afford to fight any election.
I hope its creditors start demanding their money back!
TGF UKIP
May 30th, 2009 6:04pm Report this commentThis looks like Harperson attempting to block off one of Gordon's escape routes. Looks like there could be an early Labour leadership contest after all.
SimonJ
May 30th, 2009 6:59pm Report this commentSomething more distressing than MP's expenses is Harmans sexist and racist views ramed down our throat without consultation.
Sylvia
May 30th, 2009 7:13pm Report this commentNever thought I'd agree with Harman, but she is right. A rushed parliamentry reform would be disastrous.
Flemingcrag
May 30th, 2009 7:17pm Report this commentBefore we move onto Office Costs and Travel all respectable investigative Journalists may wish to tarry just a little longer over the "second home 3 year exemption clause". This little gold nugget of tax avoidance cost the Taxman (us) £14.5 billion in lost revenue of Capital Gains Tax in the tax year 2007/8.
We now know why the Government was not anxious to close this loophole, so many of them were milking it to the Nth degree. They were not alone many memebers of the Opposition parties were grabbing onto all availble teats of this tax avoider's udder.
The continuance of this scam whilst taxes on earnings was being raised to a higher level of 50% to raise circa £3 billion shows how insincere the Government was in its claim "those who have more should pay more". In any fair minded person's book if you can afford a second home you can afford to pay Capital Gains Tax when you sell it.
egh
May 30th, 2009 8:17pm Report this commentI note the 'us' versus 'them' rhetoric.
Speaks for itself really - euro aristos versus British Plebs.
Liz Elliot-Pyle
May 30th, 2009 8:38pm Report this commentWhat Jeremy said.
Frankly, I am losing the will to live. What will now make our political "elite" take notice? They seem impervious to .....well, anything really.
What part of "you are a bunch of shysters,frauds and crooks" do they not understand?
Please dont let them have their golden goodbyes/pensions/payoffes.
But they will.
Read it and weep, people.
Verity
May 30th, 2009 11:18pm Report this commentWell ... I see that Cameron seems to be involved, too, which is why he was soft-peddling ...
http://tinyurl.com/nl9sy2
I knew there was something weird about his behaviour over all this, but how very entertaining.
Alf Tupper C.R.O.F.
May 31st, 2009 8:44am Report this commentThis is not a crisis.
Would we be better off back in our former supine ignorance?
We should be thankful for these revelations and the opportunity for improvement.
MPs Misfeasance
June 1st, 2009 9:47am Report this commentThe whole country is in a big, big mess and all MPs can think about is lining there pockets with our hard earned money.
Just thought i would say i have had a recent Criminal Records Bureau check come back with false allegations on it and they won't remove the comments. Imigrants have to have CRB checks to, unfortunately they can't be checked properly, as the countries they come from have no system in place for checks!! how many criminals have we really got working with vunerable people?
I think we british are to easy a target for our MPs there shrouded in secrecy, they have a lot to hide!!!!
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