Hughes asks Sir Christopher Kelly for advice on expenses before MPs vote

4.00.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Wed 25th Jun 2008

Liberal Democrat Shadow Leader of the House of Commons, Simon Hughes today wrote to the Chairman of the Commission of Standards in Public Life asking for his response to the Members' Estimates Committee report on MPs' allowances.

He said:

"If MPs are to regain public confidence, then our decisions about our pay and allowances should be made after independent as well as internal advice. The Committee on Standards in Public Life is the best body to give this second opinion.

"I have today written to Sir Christopher Kelly, Chairman of the Committee, to ask him to consider the report and give us his views by Monday next week. I want to make sure that my votes and those of my colleagues deliver a new regime for our pay and allowances which can be supported outside parliament as well as inside."