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Members' Salaries, Pensions and Allowances

I ask colleagues not only to vote for that but to bear in mind that it is completely illogical to have recognised that relative office costs as well as relative staff wages in different parts of the country should be reflected in the allowances and not to apply the same to Members of Parliament who live in central London or inner London. I emphasise that we are not voting now for any extra expenditure on anything; we are voting only for these matters to be looked at, which is surely the responsible thing to do. The proposed process will look at the additional costs allowance, which has been the most controversial allowance for parliamentarians. It allows MPs who do not live locally to claim for a second home or a second place to stay. Of course nobody would expect you, Madam Deputy Speaker, to go back to the west midlands every night or others to go back to Scotland or Wales, so there must be a process for recompense. That is perfectly proper. My personal view is that for outer-London MPs, the current situation is no longer justified—