"Nothing wrong with employing family" - Jacqui Smith

Gary Morgan

02 May 2008

THE HOME Secretary, Jacqui Smith, has claimed there is "nothing wrong" with MPs employing family members, despite calls from a pressure group for the practice to be scrapped.
The Town's MP, who herself employs husband Richard Timney to run her constituency office in Redditch, was one of 106 MPs who last week declared family members they employ.
The register of employed relatives was set up after revelations about Tory MP Derek Conway's payments to his son.
Ms Smith said: "There is nothing wrong in employing people who you know or who are family members to work for you.
"What is wrong is paying for work that appears not to be done. That is what happened in the original case of the Conservative MP Derek Conway - it's not what happens in my office."
Ms Smith said her husband was well qualified to do his job, adding he worked hard and was available to her around the clock.
"He runs my constituency office, my press, my diary, writes speeches for me and deals with enquiries of all sorts from all over the country through managing my e-mails," she added.
"Richard is paid at the bottom end of the pay scale for the sort of work he does."
There is no current rule against MPs employing relatives, but the European Parliament has recently voted to ban the practise for MEPs.
Mark Wallace, campaign manager for the pressure group the Taxpayers' Alliance, told The Standard the employment of relatives should be a thing of the past.
He said: "It's time for Westminster to get into the 21st century and scrap this system.
"Employing family members is already illegal in the USA and Germany and it needs to be stopped here too.
"Not all MPs abuse the system, but in order to win back the trust of the public they need to end any suspicion that they are wasting tax-payers' money."
It will become compulsory for MPs to declare employed relatives in August.

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