Oh look, it’s a Monday. It must be time to talk about expenses again…

Since the Telegraph’s revelations more than nine months ago the issue of MPs and their gratuitous all you can eat approach to claiming money from the taxpayer has barely dropped off the front pages at all. The outrage and anger felt almost unanimously by the public has been so fierce that many within the establishment have felt really quite shocked.

However, whilst it’s nice to engage in the odd spot of schadenfreude, the latest announcement that three Labour MPs and a Conservative Peer are to face criminal charges leaves me feeling pretty uncomfortable.

I have no idea whether they are guilty or not but that is largely irrelevant. What worries me is that MPs are going to try and scapegoat them in a bid to draw a line under the whole sorry affair, claiming that it was a few rotten apples and misguided majority just went along with it.

The one good thing that has come from this debacle is it has reopened debate about reform. I’m not talking about electoral reform, which is a subject for a whole different post, but reform of House of Commons procedures to make them more democratic and transparent. It is my fear that these reforms, already bogged down by bizarre voting rules introduced by the government, will be unceremoniously dumped as soon as the media is distracted.

The Wright Committee, the group of MPs responsible for devising the plans for reform has become so concerned by the inaction and confusion that they’re summoning Harriet Harman, the Leader of the House of Commons to explain what the hell is going on. However, whatever Harriet says, it is clear that the government and senior members of the parties are not keen on these reforms and are secretly praying that they remain stuck in limbo as time before the election runs out.

If this parliament cannot pass these reforms no parliament ever will. After the election the slate will be wiped clean, a new committee would have to be convened and without the public pressure that forced the Wright Committee into being during the height of the scandal reform will almost be certainly forgotten.

Whilst many of us who are involved in politics can see this going on it is hard to know what to do. As the committee has reported and the recommendations are just stuck in procedural backwaters there is nowhere to put pressure or to demand that the public voice is heard. It seems that without an immediate change of heart from the Labour government any hope of reform is destined to be dashed.

Last week a group of major reform groups including Power 2010 and the Hansard society wrote an open letter to Harriet Harman asking her to act on the Wright Committee’s proposals but there has been little public campaign. This is not a slight on these admirable groups but an unfortunate consequence of the reforms themselves.

Instead of including big ticket items like reforming the electoral system they constitute a set of small changes mostly around reducing the power of the whips and therefore the ability of the government to drive through its agenda come hell or high water.

The difficulty with the proposals is that majority of people have little idea what whips are and even if they do they would undoubtedly be shocked to find out just how much power they have to force an MP to vote against the will of the people who elected them. Without reducing the power of the whips discussions about changing the voting system are largely academic as MPs will still vote on party lines rather than on behalf of their constituents.

In fact, we have now ended up in a situation where the untempered rage of the public against their rulers is completely is not only incapable of preventing the government from halting plans to make our country more democratic but is actually making the situation worse.

By being so desperate to treat every MP as a crook the public is skewing the priorities of the media. Instead of talking about the Wright committee and its difficulties in getting its reforms adopted the media are too busy acting as judge, jury and executioner for not only the accused MPs but the political class as a whole.

The Wright committee is a perfect example of how politics is capable of renewing and rejuvenating itself. However, for the seeds of reform to survive they need the sunlight of media coverage and that will only come when the public are ready to have a grown up debate about MPs expenses.

Like this post? Like the site? Please take a second to share this article with your friends, it makes a massive difference.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Related posts:

1. The hypocrisy of expenses (c) austinevan “When institutions fail… the people who make the mistakes cannot and should not run off with entitlements...
2. Whips and Reform (c) maurice The Whips derive their name from the fox-hunting term “whippers-in” – which refers to the rider who...
3. Best of the web 01/02/10 – 07/02/10 (c) altemark Hello and welcome to my top tips for what you should have watched, heard and read on the...
4. A day in the life of running for public office My name is Tony. I am 26. I live, with my partner and my brother, in a small flat...
5. Cameron’s needs a policy on expenses – fast! (c) bixentro The expenses scandals have given us more proof, as if any were needed, of how different to...