The war of words between Bay MP Adrian Sanders and the man who wants his job, Tory Marcus Wood, over how much the MP pays his staff deepened today.
Mr Wood, prospective Parliamentary candidate, had challenged the Liberal Democrat MP to be 'transparent' about how much his staff, and in particular his wife Alison, are paid.He said a private business would have to list a range of salaries paid to a number of staff, without naming them.
Mr Wood said he thought the public wanted to know what exactly the staff do, and roughly how much they each earn, as they are paid for by the taxpayers.
But Mr Sanders insisted he publishes details about who he employs and what they do in his annual report circulated to households.
He declined to list the salaries of individuals and said it was up to those individuals to decide if they wanted their salaries publicised, but he said the going rate for his wife's job was £38,000 to £40,000 - although he does not pay her that.
He said: "There's no way I am using half of my staffing allowance on one person. Alison is not getting anywhere near the recommended rate for the job.
"She doesn't just work a 37-hour week, she is at my beck and call at all hours, just as I am at the beck and call of my constituents.
"I employ four full-time staff for an allowance of £85,000. I see Brixham Town Council is looking for the equivalent of two full-time posts for £70,000."
The row was re-ignited by the suspension of Tory MP Derek Conway. MPs voted to suspend the MP for 10 days and order him to return £13,161 of the money he paid his son.
He had already been censured for overpaying son Freddie's Parliamentary allowances and has apologised to MPs. The MP for Old Bexley and Sidcup has had his party's whip withdrawn and says he will not fight the next election.
Simon Hughes, for the Liberal Democrats, supported the call for Mr Conway's suspension and said MPs should be banned from employing more than one family member, that they should be recruited openly and paid the 'going rate'.
And he called for an annual 'spot check' of randomly-selected MPs' finances and a limit of £50 a month placed on the amount they could claim in expenses without providing receipts.
The Liberal Democrats also said they thought the names of those employed on the public payroll by MPs should become part of Parliamentary disclosure.
Mr Sanders has already said he would welcome more scrutiny of staff employed by MPs so they would be employed by the Government, to ensure they are qualified and that there would be some monitoring of the work carried out.
In his annual report he lists his staff as: head of office, his wife Alison, casework officer Steve Darling, casework assistant Tom Smith, and Commons researcher working at Westminster Alice Orr-Ewing.
He said such information is not collated by the House of Commons and so would not be subject to a Freedom of Information request.
He said his staff's job descriptions and contracts are according to House of Commons recommendations which are publicly available.
"My staff would not receive their salary cheque unless their contract had been lodged with the administration department," he said. "At the end of the day an MP is judged on how efficient his office is in responding to constituents. After 10 years I think my office staff could stand alongside the very best of any MP anywhere and if you asked constituents what they thought of the service they got I think my staff would get a very high approval rating."
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