Harman: claims dent MPs' reputations
Updated on 08 May 2009
Labour's deputy leader, Harriet Harman talks to Jon Snow about the row over the expenses claimed by cabinet ministers.
She said: "I'm very sorry that the reputation of parliament, the public confidence in parliament is so dented, and we're determined to restore and rebuild that confidence by having a system that people feel they can really trust.
"Although the claims have been made within the rules as they then were, obviously it is clear why people feel angry about them.
"The House of Commons authorities don’t pay out to a member of parliament who has made a claim unless they are satisfied the claim is within the rules.
"People come into politics because it is public service and they want to do good. I am very concerned indeed that the reputation of parliament and the reputation of all MPs is being damaged by the situation of claims under a system which we have now changed, and claims that were in all probability made in good faith.
"Obviously people will want to go through these expenses, and they will want to have their views, and people feel especially strongly about it when the economy is facing difficult times.
"But we must not throw the baby out with the bath water. Our parliament is not scarred by corruption in the way that so many others are.
"I don't accept at all the idea that this should have been treated as an uplift in pay. Allowances were never pay. They were to cope with particular expenses.
"The public were entitled to more detail than we published, so they could see year by year, and compare different MPs of how much they are spending and what they are spending it on.
"But I do defend what we did, that we should not publish MPs' home addresses, because MPs that live with their families, who live with their children - it should not be the case that that should be in the public domain.
"A local head teacher should not have to have their home address put in the public domain, the local commander of the borough police should not have their address put in the public domain.
"The fact that my address was in the public domain meant that I had Fathers4Justice on my roof. If people have got homes to live in - I stand by the right to say we do not publish addresses.
"As far as the second homes allowance is concerned, everyone recognises that while we need to have compensation for having to live in two places at once, it needs root and branch reform.
"We've acknowledged that, we've accepted it, and we're going to make those changes because we want the public to have confidence, not just in every individual MP, but in the institution of parliament."
