10:10: Kelly states that support for mortage interest should cease, reimbursement should be for rent only, or in special cases hotels, up to £120/night. From today, there will be no more capital gains at the public’s expense and no more flipping; those with mortgages currently will hold them for the next parliament and then the practice will cease. Gardening, cleaning and furniture expenses, which were very contentious will no longer be funded by the taxpayer. Kelly insists that this represents a better deal for taxpayers, which seems self-evident, and is consistent with his decision that expenses should reflect the experience and rights of constituents, in other words that MPs are not above the law or ‘special’ in any way.
Rentals might be more expensive than mortgage interest, but that’s a moot point considering the unfairness of acquiring private assets at public expense.
10:15: The right of 54 MPs to claim 2nd home allowance living within commuting distance of London, again on the grounds that that is what their constituents do.
10:17: The practice of employing family members, though not inherently bad in every case, is incompatible with the terms of a modern democracy and should stop.
10:18: Redundancy pay after the loss of a seat in an election or by-election will stop because MPs already have sufficient pension entitlements. This will not apply until after this parliament – wrong-doers who are leaving parliament should not receive redundancy pay.
10:20: Kelly urges the creation of an independent Standards Committee, which will decide MPs salaries and pensions. I do think that this issue needs to be addressed as soon as possible, because MPs’ pay was the issue that sparked the spate of exploitation in the first place.
And Kelly suggests that that the SPC, MPs self-regulating body, should include “two lay members” to ensure accountability within Parliament itself.
10:22: Kelly insists that even after the furuore dies down, Parliament should not becoem complacent about the public’s anger at this issue. “Whether you like this or not, there is a lot to be said for getting this sorted now,” he says. Kelly also insists that “cherry-picking is not an option”. Get on with it and restore trust is the clear message.
Kelly’s learnt from Legg: there is nothing retrospective in these recommendations, which will limit the ‘no’ voices.
Question and answer:
When will the capital gains ban come into force? Kelly says that depends on whether his recommendations are accepted, but any gains made from this point on the back of public money, will be handed back – a fine example of where Kelly is not being retrospective.
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