万花筒 2009-06-27&06-28 报销违规坐大牢（在线收听）

MPs who break the rules could face up to a year in jail under new government plans. Leader of the House of Commons Harriet Harmon has been outlining Ministers' ideas for cleaning up Westminster in the wake of public anger over MPs' expenses claims.

“The Bill will also create new criminal offenses for knowingly making a false claim for an allowance, failing without reasonable excuse to register a relevant interest, contravening without reasonable excuse the rules on paid advocacy.” The new law will tighten the rules on MPs’ allowances. Ms. Harmon also said ministers would review last week’s publication of blacked-out expenses claims which prompted criticism from Freedom of information campaigners. The expenses revelations by the Daily Telegraph for over the past few weeks have led to the resignation of a host of MPs in the face of investigation into a number of individuals. It was the expenses scandal that led to the downfall of the last Speaker of the House of the Commons Michael Martin. His replacement John Bercow has pledged to oversee reform of Parliament, but that comes despite controversy over his own claims, which saw allegations of flipping and a decision to pay back 6,500 pounds to the taxman.