Bercow, Dhanda and Cormack highest claimers

Widdecombe, Young and Cormack voted to hide their expenses and behind FOI exemption

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The upcoming election for the House of Common’s Speaker is the most important in living history. The new Speaker will be a figurehead for reforming the House and restoring the reputation of our entire parliamentary democracy in the eyes of the British public.

As you can see from the table we have compiled below, none of the candidates have a particularly good track record when it comes to their own personal expenses and support for moves that would have made the House of Commons more open and transparent. All of these candidates had the opportunity to throw their weight behind moves such as the Freedom of Information Act being applied to MPs and measures that would require more scrutiny of their expenses. Off the four opportunities to vote on these matters, none of the candidates voted for them all. The full methodology of how the ranking were compiled can be found in the appendix.

John Bercow, Parmjit Dhanda and Sir Patrick Cormack claimed over 90% of the maximum money available to them in the last four years from the Additional Costs Allowance and Incidental Expenses Allowance, undermining any reformist credentials they may have. None of the candidates have shown more than a moderate interest in reforming Parliament and making it more transparent.

Full Data can be seen here.

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