MPs can no longer claim for mortgages

MPs should no longer be able to claim for their mortgages or employ family members at the taxpayer's expense, the long-awaited report by the standards watchdog said today.

MPs will no longer be able to claim mortgage interest payments after an "appropriate transitional'" period.

They will be banned from employing family members by the end of the next Parliament or within five years, the report recommended.

The chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, Sir Christopher Kelly, said that the proposals were "fair and reasonable" and would bring Westminster into line with other walks of life and other legislatures.

He acknowledged that his wide-ranging proposals would mean "substantial change" for MPs and said that, where necessary, they should be phased in with a suitable period of transition.

Generous resettlement grants for MPs who voluntarily step down will be stopped from the general election after next, and they will receive eight weeks pay instead, the report said.

See the Mail's website for MPs' responses.