WHILE acknowledging that parliamentarians’ allowances not only need to be cleaned up but also seen to be, suggesting that MPs should no longer be permitted to employ relatives merely because a small minority has abused this right, is, together with some of the more radical measures proposed, simply a step too far.
As might be expected, I have contacted MP Andrew Smith regarding numerous issues over the last couple of decades and it is clear from much of the ensuing correspondence that his wife is no freeloader.
David Diment, Riverside Court, Oxford
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