Parliamentary petition warns against cuts to contractor expenses

by Susie Hughes at 13:04 04/12/15 (Political News)

The threat posed to public services by cuts to contractor expenses has been highlighted in the House of Commons.

Labour MP Sir Alan Meale described the attack on travel and subsistence expenses as 'short-sighted' in an Early Day Motion. Early Day Motions (EDMs) are formal motions submitted for debate in the House of Commons. However, very few are actually debated. The main purpose of an EDM is to allow MPs to draw attention to an event or cause. MPs register their support by signing individual motions. This one has initially been supported by 10 cross Party MPs, including Conservative Sir Peter Bottomley. The recent Autumn statement from Chancellor George Osborne confirmed the Government's intention cut travel and subsistence allowances for contractors - although the details are not yet fully known. (See: AS2015 (1): Contractors 'betrayed' by travel and expenses plans - Shout99, Dec 15). Sir Alan, MP for Mansfield, tabled a motion calling for the consequences of the policy to be properly recognised by fellow MPs. It stated: "That this House is aware that the Government has chosen to remove the tax relief mechanism Travel and Subsistence from contractors from April 2016, a decision which is likely to result in around 1.6 million workers experiencing up to a 20 per cent wage cut to their net salaries overnight; understands the importance of workers in this sector who currently fill the skills shortages around the country and in industries as hospitals, schools and colleges and local authorities as well as many major public civil engineering projects; and believes that if the Government persists in such a short-sighted fiscal strategy it will result in undoubted delays and huge failures to essential services provided to citizens.” Advertisement Crawford Temple, CEO of pressure group PRISM, who have been campaigning against the measure, thanked Sir Alan for his intervention. He said: “It is extremely important that an important issue like this with such huge ramifications gets recognised officially in Parliament so I thank him sincerely for that. “George Osborne has decided to press ahead with removing this vital relief which we expect to have huge consequences for public and private sector wage bills as employers are forced to make up for the shortfall. "However, there is a huge amount of lobbying still to do as we continue to take our concerns to our elected representatives whose job it is to scrutinise government policy and hold the Chancellor to account.” For more information about this and other matters relating to the Autumn Statement see Shout99's Political News section. Tweet -- If you wish to comment on this article, please log in and use the Reply button below. Registering is free and easy - see 'Join Shout99'. - Susie Hughes © Shout99 2015

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