Going Through the Motions

Once the motion to leave the issue of the expenses of Members of Parliament to the independent Committee on Standards in Public Life chaired by Sir Christopher Kelly had been accepted by the Executive, including that all decisions be subject to those recommendations, every subsequent vote became irrelevant.

Changes with a life expectancy of zero on banning outer London MPs from claiming for a second home, requiring MPs to publish full details of outside earnings, and obliging them to produce receipts for all expenses claims went through with massive majorities after the Conservatives then went home. As the shadow Commons leader remarked, the Government is "treading rapidly into realms of complete and utter lunacy", as the motions rolled on, with Speaker Martin insisting on putting them to the pointless vote.

Labour later tried to insist that the utter waste of time showed that David Cameron was less committed to reform than he maintained, and that expenses reforms proposed by the Prime Minister enjoyed blanket support in the House.