Commons sleazebusters lock horns over expenses guidelines

Sleazebusters in the House of Commons clashed today as the crackdown on MPs' expenses risked being plunged into chaos.

Sir Christopher Kelly, chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public

Life, defended his proposals to tackle abuses of MPs' expenses after the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority sought to change key parts of his blueprint.

Sir Christopher said: "It should come as no surprise that my committee continues to argue for the implementation of the package of recommendations that we made in our report last November."

He defended three key elements of his masterplan which were seen to be under threat from IPSA headed by Sir Ian Kennedy. They are that MPs should be banned from employing family members, that MPs living within easy commuting distance from London should not be able to claim for a second home, and that continued payment of mortgage interest during a five-year transitional period should be conditional on the surrender of any capital gain attributable to that support.

With Sir Christopher's public clash with Sir Ian's proposed changes, it is not clear which proposals will be adopted.