Myfanwy and Dafydd Wigley in plea to clean up Westminster sleaze

In the wake of the disclosure of MPs expenses claims last week Dr Myfanwy Davies, Plaid Cymru’s Westminster candidate for Llanelli, has issued a plea for a transparent system of expenses to restore people’s faith in parliament.

Myfanwy Davies is calling for a new set of rules which are clear, strong and open to public scrutiny. The new rules would introduce a completely open accounting system and would enable MPs to employ the staff they need and to travel to and from London to their constituencies.

Speaking from her campaign office in Llanelli, Myfanwy said:

“There is no excuse for the kind of abuses of the system we have seen in the past few days. For me the worst aspect of this behaviour by some MPs is that it makes people feel their votes don’t matter at precisely the time we desperately need MPs to stand up for our communities and to be accountable to them”.

“I have been talking to people in Trimsaran over the weekend and I am very concerned that instead of using their votes to hold politicians to account, some people feel that there is no point in voting in elections and may not vote at all”.

“There is a much clearer system of supporting the work of elected representatives already in place in Wales, at the National Assembly. What I would like to see is a system like the one they have in Sweden where all members’ expenses are available for the public to see. For far too long we have accepted a culture of secrecy at Westminster and that has now become a real danger to democracy as people are choosing not to vote”

Dafydd Wigley the former MP for Arfon and former Plaid leader added:

‘The systems in the Assembly, whilst they undoubtedly need tightening are very much more rigorous than those in the House of Commons. Westminster would do well to learn from the Assembly in these matters’

End/Diwedd

Notes for the editor:
According to the 'Audit of Political Engagement' published by Hansard in April, only a third of UK people believe that that the system of government works well or very well.

Last week following the first disclosures of MP’s expenses 89% of those quizzed by ICM for the News of the World warned that the reputation of parliament was being tarnished.

Dafydd Wigley is currently involved in the Independent Review Panel on AM’s pay and allowances that is chaired by Sir Roger Jones