Two senior Kent MPs have backed calls for greater transparency regarding expenses claims by MPs.
Former Tory leader Michael Howard and Dr Stephen Ladyman, a vice-chairman of the Labour Party, have both said they would favour more openness with expenses claims.
Mr Howard, MP for Folkestone and Hythe, is one of 14 senior MPs, including Gordon Brown and David Cameron, whose expenses claims have been requested under the Freedom of Information Act.
They were expected to be published this week, but the order to release them has been challenged by the House of Commons Commission and will be decided at the High Court.
Mr Howard told KOS Media he would be happy to have his claims made public.
He said: “I’m entirely in favour of making it more transparent. It’s a fact that Members of Parliament work in more than one place and therefore have to have accommodation in more than one place.
“How you best achieve that is something a committee is looking into at the moment. My view is that these things should be decided by an independent body.”
Mr Howard added that disgraced former Tory Derek Conway had “paid a high price for what he did” but did not wish to discuss the matter further.
Mr Conway, MP for Old Bexley and Sidcup, was kicked out of the party and temporarily suspended from Parliament after it was revealed that he had paid his son for research work while he was studying at Newcastle University.
Dr Ladyman, MP for South Thanet, said it was right that the parliamentary commission should oppose publication of MPs' addresses, but they should not resist wider transparency.
He said: “The public are demanding wider transparency and whether we like it or not we have to give it to them to restore confidence.
“Most MPs offer a good service and give value for money and I include myself in that group.”
POSTED: 28/03/2008 18:25:57