Local MPs Yvette Cooper and Jon Trickett are calling for further radical reform to MPs allowances to cut costs for taxpayers, prevent abuse and restore public trust.

Yvette and Jon are backing Gordon Brown's proposals for immediate reform:

• New independent checks and audits of all MPs expense claims over the last four years with all overclaims to be paid back
• MPs should not be able to use allowances for furniture and fittings
• MPs should not be able to switch homes to pay for refurbishment or get financial advantage

      They also believe reforms should go further:

• All allowances should now be published as soon as possible
• A new cheaper, simpler and more transparent system should be introduced that cuts the overall costs for the taxpayer too
• The independent Kelly report should be sped up and a new independent regulator should be introduced for Parliament. MPs should not be able to decide their own allowances in future
• All MPs should apologise for collective failure to reform the system

Yvette and Jon have chosen not to claim the full allowance in recent years.

Yvette and Jon said:
"Lets face it, when it comes to expenses, MPs got it badly wrong. People are rightly sick to the back teeth about all this. We apologise - as we believe all MPs must - for failing to sort out a system that is broken, thirty years out of date and should have been radically reformed years ago.

Change must happen quickly. We need to cut the costs for the taxpayer with a simpler, cheaper system. At a time when people are worrying about their own jobs and paying the bills, we cannot have a lax and unfair system for MPs.

We need rapid, tough, independent checks and audits to restore public confidence and make sure over-claims are quickly paid back. For years Parliament has been discussing reforms, and the two of us have consistently argued for radical change. But now the talking has to stop.

We need to get on with it. We have already voted to stop MPs deciding their own pay. Now we need to stop MPs deciding their own allowances too.

The truth is that MPs do need to be in be in two places each week. We believe its important for MPs to live in their constituency and hear people’s concerns. But we also need to be in Westminster for debates and votes. In practice that does mean living in two places with two sets of bills. For Yvette that means taking the kids to and fro so the family can stay together too.

Reforms are badly needed, but we shouldn’t go back to the days when MPs all needed second jobs or family wealth to stay in Parliament. In the 1920s, Hemsworth MP John Guest rarely went to Westminster because he couldn’t afford it. There were many other Yorkshire MPs who only visited their constituencies every few months for occasional surgeries.

We were as horrified as everyone else at the outrageous claims involving swimming pools and moats. We have not used allowances for furniture or fittings, but we have used them to cover regular costs on a second home like mortgage interest and other bills. Over the last few years we have chosen not to use the full housing allowance. But we know that's not the point. People are concerned about every MPs allowance, and the whole system has to change.

We are pressing for all the receipts to be published as soon as possible. And we need rapid reform to sort it out. That way we can get back to the important issues we want to focus on to help local people - including jobs for young people and investment in our area."

Yvette Cooper MP and Jon Trickett MP