Probe bid to clean up MPs' expenses
A crucial inquiry into how to clean up MPs' expenses is hearing its first evidence.
Commons Leader Harriet Harman and her Conservative and Liberal Democrat opposite numbers are due to give evidence to the Committee on Standards in Public Life.
Chairman Sir Christopher Kelly said at the weekend that he had been "shocked" by recent revelations about abuse of the allowances system, but he insisted the probe could not be rushed and will not report before Autumn.
But emergency measures to prevent the most notorious expenses practices - such as "flipping" second home designation to maximise claims - have already been introduced.
All the main parties have indicated they will accept the committee's proposals for reform once they are published.
The first evidence session comes as the Commons authorities prepare to publish details of more than a million claims by MPs later this week.
But the multi-million pound exercise has already been pre-empted by the embarrassing leak of the raw material to the Daily Telegraph last month.
Attention is now likely to focus on how much damaging information would have been "redacted" and hidden from the public if it had not been obtained by other means.
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