WHAT NEXT?

The MP`s expenses fiasco rumbles on along with the soap opera that the future of Speaker Martin has become. I watched Martin`s `statement` yesterday and could not escape the feeling that I was watching 300 years of history being rewritten. The next few days will be revealing and I`m sure the 648 MPs will want it `resolved` before they clear off for yet another week away from the mother of Parliaments. Maybe the fact that Parliament is sitting for only 159 days this year is another abuse that needs looking into.

And in all the talk of General Elections, new Speakers, root and branch reforms and the rest, it`s easy to fall into the trap of believing that a sort out of MPs expenses will be the end of it. It shouldn`t be. There are loads of other `areas of discontent` that need examining, such as the free travel enjoyed by MPs and their families, the free post they enjoy and the free, if not heavily subsidised by the taxpayer, bars and catering that they enjoy at Westminster. And then there is the European Parliament, for whom we are supposed to be voting in a couple of weeks` time. If we thought that the fiddles exposed in the House of Commons are bad enough, just imagine the countless millions squirrelled away by the MEPs. And then there is the House of Lords, whose members are also blessed with expenses and allowances that seem devoid of proper accountability. So I just wonder where it will all end and whether we will ever be rid of the institutionalised abuse of taxpayers` money. I`m not holding my breath.