MPs' spending in the spotlight

Updated 19.14 Sun Feb 03 2008

Keywords: Labour, Conservatives, Derek Conway

Britons appear less than pleased with MPs who have family members on their payroll.

An ICM Poll for the Sunday Telegraph showed 74 per cent of respondents think MPs should not employ members of their own families, while only 20 per cent believe it is OK.

Former Cabinet minister Peter Hain has employed his 80-year-old mother as a part-time secretary since 1991 on a salary of £5,400

It follows revelations that MP Derek Conway paid his sons tens of thousands of pounds to work for him, even though they were studying full-time at University.

Under parliamentary rules, there is no bar on employing relatives and many MPs recruit their spouses or children as secretaries.

Labour has estimated that between 90 and 95 of its MPs employ relatives, while David Cameron said that 70 Tories do so, and the Liberal Democrats have revealed 12 of their MPs do - in total, more than a quarter of the Commons.

Conservative husband-and-wife MP couple Sir Nicholas and Ann Winterton claim more than £30,000 a year for a flat on which they have paid off the mortgage. They transferred the flat to a trust, to which they pay rent, in a procedure which was cleared by the Commons Fees Office.

Lancaster and Wyre's Conservative MP Ben Wallace became the first to publish a complete breakdown of his £152,000 expenses claims, complete with receipts and details of payments to his wife Liza as a researcher.

Former Cabinet minister Peter Hain has employed his 80-year-old mother Adelaine Hain as a part-time secretary since 1991 on a salary of £5,400, and insists: "She works really hard, and that's that."

Meanwhile, the Conservative lead over Labour has narrowed by two points.

The ICM survey for the Sunday Telegraph, taken in the two days after Mr Conway was stripped of the Conservative whip, put David Cameron's party on 37 per cent - down three points since a similar poll a month ago - Labour on 32 per cent (down one point) and the Liberal Democrats on 21 per cent (up three).

Voters taking part also said that the single policy that would make them more likely to vote Tory was putting more police on the streets.