The committee that oversees House of Commons expenses has authorized MPs to pass off as official expenses costs associated with food, soft drinks and even decorations to host a Christmas party, a ‘green light’ that lawmakers themselves have questioned on ethical grounds.
The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa) has endorsed this type of expenditure, arguing that MPs work in a «complicated» environment and can «reward their staff» with a «modest» party. He has stressed that alcohol is not included and that any expenses, for which already approved budgets will be used, will be published at a later date, according to the BBC.
However, the idea has not gone down well with political groups, in a country that still has in its recent memory the scandals arising from the meetings organized by former Prime Minister Boris Johnson at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A Downing Street spokesman has already made it clear that the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, will not ask for any money to hold a party with his team, while for both Labour and Liberal Democrats it is an «inappropriate» idea, given the delicate economic situation marked by the generalized rise in prices.
The British Parliament created the Ipsa to externally supervise the spending of legislators, after the controversies that arose in 2009.
