Dear Ahmed,
The reputation of Parliament was black enough before the black-out of expenses. Today it's even darker. I have long argued that transparency is absolutely key to re-building that trust. Suspicion and cynicism are instantly aroused by secrecy, so we need to open politics up to the people - especially when it comes to expenses.
When it comes to so called redactions only strictly private information - like phone numbers and bank details - should be crossed out, because there are legitimate security concerns about having this information online. Censorship for any other reason is unjustifiable. This is public money we're talking about - money earned through the hard graft of the millions of people we serve - so it is wrong to try and throw a veil over how it is spent.
So what next? The House of Commons Commission should bring forward the publication of the 08/09 expenses in uncensored form. My Shadow Cabinet are already publishing their current expense claims online, and today I've asked them to go further by including all significant correspondence and receipts.
I have also put all my expenses for the last month online, in full. To go through them click here. We can only move on from this dark time in politics by recognising that people have a right to see exactly where and how public money is spent, because it's clear - there can be no trust without transparency. Anything less than the full truth is just not good enough.
No comments:
Post a Comment