MPs' expenses finally published
The official list of MPs allowances and expenses for 2004-08 has been uploaded, at last, onto the Parliament website since the early hours of this morning. You and download PDFs of his or her expense claims for the past four years.
A triumph for open politics? Not quite. This version of MPs expenses is heavily censored. MPs have been able to go through their claims with a marker-pen and take out not just personal details like addresses but a number of things that are potentially embarrassing, such as unsuccessful claims, and crucial details that allow us to determine if the MP flipped his or her homes to avoid capital gains tax, which many regard as among the most egregious of abuses.
The result of this so-called "redaction" is huge swathes of blacked out pages which hide information which has been vital to the massive , which has been based on the "unredacted" expenses files. The official information still contains plenty to outrage voters since it reveals that many MPs thought they could charge just about everything, from a can-opener (the outgoing Speaker) to fancy furniture (the incoming Defence Secretary), to the taxpayer. But it is hard to escape the conclusion that, without the Telegraph's uncensored files, we would never have known the full extent of the Great Expenses Scandal and many MPs would have been able to cover up just how far they were milking the system.
Be in no doubt: the scandal still has the capacity to destroy careers. Kitty Ussher, appointed to the Treasury only days ago, has been after it was revealed she had was a "flipper" and had avoided capital gains tax on the sale of her constituency home in Burnley. Ms Ussher is not just leaving the government. She's leaving politics. She's not the first to fall foul of the great expenses disclosure -- and she certainly won't be the last.
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