Expenses - U-turn or slip

The PM has said during PMQs that his Labour MPs will now not be whipped to vote for MPs to be exempt from FOI with regard to their expenses.

U-turn or slip of the tongue?

Earlier the PM's Official Spokesman said Labour MPs would be whipped. This was then confirmed by Harriet Harman's office.

But the PM said there would be a free vote. Did he make policy up on the hoof?

Whatever, if a U-turn has been performed it is a step in the right direction though even better would be for this proposal to be withdrawn.

The PM looks to have taken this decision to salvage his reputation!

UPDATE: EXTRAORDINARY. GOVERNMENT HAS NOW WITHDRAWN THE STATORY INSTRUMENT THAT WAS DUE TO BE VOTED ON THIS THURSDAY. VICTORY!

Labour a disgrace over MP expenses

Last week it was reported that Harriet Harman had bowed to Labour backbench pressure to stop detail's of MPs' expenses claims being published, exempting them from the Freedom of Information Act. This is contrary to a High Court ruling that under the FOI Act MPs ought to publish their receipts.

Remember this is the same Labour government and party that threw out tougher rules in July last year when the vast majority of Members – 146 of the 172 – who voted to keep the allowance, described as the “John Lewis list”, were Labour, including 33 ministers.

We have now learnt today that Gordon Brown is imposing a three line whip on his Labour MPs to support the FOI exemption and with it a curtailment of transparency and accountability. Does he think this in any way helps his and his government's battered reputation?

This is a disgrace. Even LabourHome has called it "a dreadful decision."

Thankfully, both David Cameron and Nick Clegg have said that they will be whipping their MPs to oppose the exemption. Let's just hope that there are enough ballsy Labour MPs willing to defy their odious government to get this exemption thrown out. We know of four decent Labour MPs so far - Frank Field, Mark Fisher, Kate Hoey and David Winnick.

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It really is a scandal that the rest of us have to account for our expenses, filling out expense forms. Sure its a burden and is very tiresome but it's the law.

Ben Brogan asks a good question: "Who are the ministers who have lobbied for an exemption because they are embarrassed about what their receipts will reveal?"

Greedy Labour MPs and Ministers clearly have something to hide and are arrogant enough to think there ought to one rule for them and another for the rest of us. Hiding behind facile claims that publishing all receipts is too expensive is frankly pathetic.

Brown is increasingly looking out of touch with public opinion.