**The government has defended its decision not to include legislation in the Queen’s Speech on MPs’ expenses.**The Conservatives accused Gordon Brown of lacking courage on the issue, and Sir Christopher Kelly, who proposed the reforms, said he was “disappointed”.
But Culture Secretary Ben Bradshaw said the government had “given control of the process away” in order to end hundreds of years of self-regulation.
If any new legislation were needed it would be passed, he added.
Tory leader David Cameron said there were 11 separate measures that still need to be passed into law in order to implement the Kelly report.
Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg agreed, saying new legislation was needed to force MPs to disclose their financial interests.
But Mr Bradshaw told the BBC: "We’ve legislated to set up an independent regulator, ending hundreds of years of self regulation.
“It is extraordinary for me for the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats to now be suggesting that MPs take back control of this process. The whole point is we’ve given control of the process away.”
‘Clean sheet’
PLANNED NEW LAWS
- Fiscal Responsibility Bill - put into law promise to halve deficit
- Financial Services and Business Bill - clamp down on bonuses for bankers taking too many risks
- The Flood and Water Management Bill - give councils powers to prevent floods
- Social Care Bill - neediest elderly to get home care
- Policing, Crime and Private Security Bill - DNA of more sex offenders added to database
- Children, Schools and Families Bill - Guarantees school standards and extra help pupils who fall behind
- Energy Bill - give Ofgem more powers to act on behalf of customers over prices
- Bribery Bill - make it offence to bribe foreign officials and for business to fail to prevent bribery
- Digital Economy Bill - set up fund to bring in universal broadband by 2012
- Cluster Munitions Prohibition Bill - ratify international ban on cluster bombs
Brown draws election battle lines
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Sir Christopher - chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life - said legislation was required to strengthen the role and powers of the new Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, which will authorise all expenses claims in the future.
“The committee believes it is very important that the new Parliament starts with a clean sheet,” he said.
“There is no reason why the relatively straightforward legislation needed in this area should prevent the new regulatory body from getting other important changes under way.”
No 10 said it believed no new laws were needed to introduce the main changes to what MPs can claim - changes which have already been accepted by all parties - but would consider legislation if necessary.
‘Out of ideas’
Labour is widely regarded to have used the Queen’s Speech, unveiled amid typical pageantry at Westminster, to draw the battle lines for the upcoming election, which must be held by next June.
Among the 13 bills announced were measures to penalise excessive risk taking in the City, to provide new pupil entitlements, to give free personal care to about 400,000 pensioners and to require the government to halve the budget deficit in the next Parliament.
Ministers denied the proposals amounted to a virtual election manifesto, saying they were putting national ahead of party interests.
They also challenged the opposition parties to say whether they backed certain key policies such as guaranteed consultation times for cancer patients and new legal rights for parents.
But the Tories said the paucity of proposals showed Labour had run out of “money, time and ideas”.
Sir George Young, shadow leader of the House of Commons, said the opposition wanted details about how key policies such as that on free personal care would be paid for before deciding whether to back them.
“We will support worthwhile reforms which we think are in the country’s interest,” he told the BBC.
The Lib Dems, meanwhile, labelled Labour’s agenda a “fantasy” and said it was a “waste of time” as half of the proposals would never make it into law.
Treasury spokesman Vince Cable said ministers should be focusing on a “narrow” set of much-needed political reforms and not get “bogged down” over trying to pass new laws where it already had powers to act.
‘Demolition job’
The £670m plan to give free care to the elderly was also criticised on Thursday by Labour peer Lord Lipsey, a former member of the Royal Commission on Long-Term Care.
He told the Times newspaper that it amounted to “a demolition job on the national budget”.
But Mr Bradshaw denied this was the case, adding: “It’s a very, very small part of the National Health Service budget of £120 billion.”
BBC political editor Nick Robinson said the Queen’s Speech had felt like the opening salvo of an election campaign with ministers keen to spell out the big choices facing the electorate.
But he added there had been little mention of issues likely to dominate the campaign such as future spending cuts and the war in Afghanistan.
Should a general election be held on 6 May, on the same day as local elections, it is estimated that the Commons would have about 46 days available for legislating before Parliament is dissolved.
But Labour MP Keith Vaz said the government had a mandate to govern into 2010 as well as a comfortable majority in the Commons.
“It is a full programme to take us to the end of this Parliament.” he told the BBC, adding: “You can pass legislation in a day in you really want to.”