Peers in line for 40 per cent rise in expenses

By JASON GROVES, POLITICAL EDITOR
Updated:

Former Tory peer Lord Taylor of Warwick was found guilty of making false expenses and continued to claim after he had been charged

Former Tory peer Lord Taylor of Warwick was found guilty of making false expenses and continued to claim after he had been charged

Peers  are on course to pocket a 40 per cent increase in their expenses as a result of efforts to ‘clean up’ the discredited system.

A new £300-a-day flat-rate allowance has seen claims soar, figures showed yesterday.

In the first three months of the new system, peers claimed £6million, compared with £17.2million in the whole of last year.

If the trend continues, the total bill this year will be more than £24million – an increase of 40 per cent.

Last year peers argued that the new system would end the scandal around Lords expenses, which has seen two peers convicted of theft and three others suspended from Parliament.

The system cut the daily amount available to individual peers by 15 per cent.

But it has made many more eligible to claim expenses.

Under the rules, peers simply have to show their face at Westminster to pocket the daily allowance.

No receipts are required and peers do not have to stay for debate or votes – leading critics to claim they can ‘clock in and clear off’.

Emma Boon, of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said the system needed urgent reform. She added: ‘The old system allowed abuses and had to change but it’s very worrying that this new regime looks like it could cost more.

‘It’s critical that changes are now made to rebuild public confidence. Part of this has to be that claims are only allowed when costs have been incurred in the line of work.’ 

The figures, which cover the last three months of last year, reveal that disgraced Tory peers Lord Taylor and Lord Hanningfield – both convicted of expenses fraud – continued to claim long after they had been charged.

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