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Communications Allowance

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr. Cook, as I have on a number of other occasions. As this is likely to be my final appearance in Westminster Hall, I am particularly pleased that you are chairing our debate. I am sure that you and other Members present share my sadness at the news of the death of Michael Foot, a former Labour party leader and a great parliamentarian. Right hon. and hon. Members may have noticed the slightly convoluted history of the title of this general debate. Suffice it to say that the debate has been secured. I am pleased to see my hon. Friend the Deputy Leader of the House in her place, ready to respond to the debate. Although it appears that the House has consigned all power over MPs' communications expenditure to an outside body—the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority—at least for the brief remainder of this Parliament my hon. Friend has ministerial responsibility for the winding up of the communications allowance, hence the title of the debate. I find it surprising that the House should have given over responsibility for something so basic to the democratic process as a Member's communications with his or her constituents to an outside body—one that has relatively little experience of political struggle on the ground. We already know to all intents and purposes what that body has decided about the future of communications expenditure: it has trodden in the footsteps of Sir Christopher Kelly's Committee on Standards in Public Life in its, in my view, somewhat cursory treatment of the communications allowance. I shall say a little more about the Kelly report shortly. The intentions of IPSA are set out in its recent consultation document. There will be no more communications allowance; expenditure will be allowed only on advertising for constituency meetings and advice surgeries and on contact cards. The document states:""All other currently available types of communications expenditure will be excluded"," so there will be no more annual reports, and no more websites.