Questions over the Commons’ new Speaker
Prospective Independent MP David Kirwan has questioned whether the House of Commons’ new Speaker is the right man for the job.
David, who is standing in the Wirral West constituency at the General Election, said: “We have a Speaker himself guilty of three house flips avoiding capital gains tax and now reported as having blocked an attempt by Sir Christopher Kelly to extend his remit into this sensitive and undoubtedly contentious area.
“It is extraordinary that nine months of almost continuous revelation on the vexed issue of MPs’ expenses the poachers are still in a state of denial and able to dodge the gamekeeper.
“It is all the more remarkable that honest law abiding taxpayers struggling to survive the recession are still being hit with swingeing interest and other penalties upon late payment of their dues.
“Until Kelly is allowed a free hand to root out all this corruption and double standards it will remain the public perception that there is one law for them and another for us. Few will shed any tears at the reports that upwards of 200 MPs will be leaving the Commons at the next election unable to make ends meet and afford a further sojourn at the trough.
“Some complain that it will become a rich man’s parliament. I would sooner have that prospect with MPs putting their hands in their own pockets and not ours. Nevertheless, I do not believe such a proposition. Next June or maybe earlier, we will see a return to the standards of vocational service, honesty and integrity that used to inhabit public service but which are now so sadly missing.
“Parliament will attract a new breed of independents truly representative of the public who eschew all the outmoded and tired doctrines of the current mainstream political parties.”
