Report on MP expenses to be published
MPs are expected to lose their right to charge mortgage interest payments under the recommendations of an eagerly-awaited report on parliamentary expenses.
MPs are expected to lose their right to charge mortgage interest payments under the recommendations of an eagerly-awaited report on parliamentary expenses.
They will also be stopped from employing their own relatives as part of the shake-up at Parliament.
The report on all aspects of the House of Commons expense and allowance system is being unveiled by Sir Christopher Kelly, the chairman of sleaze watchdog the Committee on Standards in Public Life.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said he hopes it will draw a line under the long-running expenses scandal, replacing Westminster's discredited old allowance system with a new framework based on the principles of accountability, transparency and value for taxpayers' money.
But reports about its expected contents have suggested it will propose deep reductions in the amount of support MPs can claim, raising concerns that it might make Westminster the preserve of those wealthy enough to pay their own expenses.
The report - drawn up after an accelerated seven-month inquiry - is expected to call for an end to claims for mortgage payments, as well as a ban on the use of taxpayers' money to employ relatives and the abolition of second home allowances for MPs who live within an hour's commuting time of Westminster.