Complaints against MPs increase

Sir George Young says the number of complaints against MPs has risen

The furore over Tory MP Derek Conway has sparked a lot more complaints from the public about MPs, the chairman of the Commons Standards Committee says.

"A lot of constituents have remembered some long-lost grievance about a member of Parliament," said Sir George Young.

He said the suspension of Derek Conway over payments to his son had drawn attention to the complaints machinery.

But he said it was not clear how many MPs would be investigated, or how many of the complaints had substance.

Commons Speaker Michael Martin has announced a "root and branch" review of parliamentary allowances to be completed by October.

I do think we have a job to do now to restore the reputation of the House of Commons as a whole Sir George Young, Commons Standards Committee chairman

And a Freedom of Information tribunal is deciding whether MPs should reveal their expenses in greater detail.

"People have read the Conway report and a lot of constituents have remembered some long-lost grievance about a member of Parliament and a lot of complaints are now coming in," Sir George said.

"We will have to see how many have substance. But certainly the Conway affair has raised the profile of the MPs' complaints machinery.

"I do think we have a job to do now to restore the reputation of the House of Commons as a whole."

Declarations

The Prime Minister has already ordered Labour MPs to declare any family members being paid from parliamentary allowances.

And Conservative leader David Cameron has told frontbench Tories to make the same declarations and urged backbenchers to follow suit.

Liberal Democrats leader Nick Clegg said he had done the same.

The matter of MPs' expenses and Parliamentary allowances was thrust into the public spotlight last month after it emerged Derek Conway had allegedly made parliamentary payments to his son, while he was still a student.

A Commons standards committee said there was no record of Freddie doing work at Westminster in return for £40,000 of taxpayers' money.

The MP was suspended from the Commons for 10 days and ordered to return £13,161 of the money he paid his son.

He later announced he would stand down as an MP at the next general election.