What a shambles these past four weeks have been. The public are rightly furious and outraged by what they have seen and the reputation of Parliament has been reduced to zero.
Worse, we (MPs) have only ourselves to blame for this. Brown, Cameron and Clegg all talk about "reforming the system". But the real problem is with the MPs. The system of what can and cannot properly be claimed isn't too bad. Parliament has been tightening it every two or three years for the past 25 years. There are still loopholes and potential abuses (as we can see): "flipping" homes; husbands and wives claiming twice for the same home; the far-too-cosy relationship with the Fees Office who administer the rules etc. But the real problem is with MPs' attitudes, which, over the Second Homes Allowance in particular has led to MPs claiming the maximum allowable under the rules (claiming for everything to do with their second houses - furniture, equipment etc) rather than limiting themselves to the minimum necessary to exist away from our constituencies. That very different attitude, plus the monthly publication by every MP of what they were claiming, would transform things. Up to now MPs claims has been an unpublicised dialogue with the Fees Office. If every MP knew that the public and the media would see every claim they put in, none of these moats, duck houses, bathplugs, DVDs, furniture etc etc would be claimed.
From now on, on this new website, I will be publishing every claim I make. Over the past 26 years I've claimed essentially for housing (mortgage interest), rates, and utilities (gas, electricity, water and phone). Anything over and above those (repairs, insurance etc) I will try to explain.