House Points: Chris Huhne and Sky News

My House Points column from today's Liberal Democrat News.

On the box

Tuesday lunchtime found me on the train to St Pancras to join a panel of bloggers interviewing Chris Huhne. My mobile rang. “I’m on the train,” I said.

It was Helen Duffett from Cowley Street. The line was bad, but she was saying something about Sky News, MPs’ expenses and the budget. Would I do it? Yes I said, without being sure what I had agreed to.

We assembled in Chris Huhne’s office in Portcullis House. He is the Lib Dem shadow home secretary, but the questions covered MPs’ expenses and the budget too.

What did Chris think of Gordon Brown’s announcement? He said Brown was aiming for the system they have in the European parliament where members are paid a daily subsistence rate but do not have to provide receipts. “We don’t want to see the Brussels gravy train arriving at Westminster,” Chris said.

This new system would not provide transparency. “It’s public money, and the public has a right to know how it is spent.”

Later at Cowley Street, George Crozier briefed me on Vince Cable’s proposals. “They’ll probably ask you what measure you would most like to see in the budget.”

Then Helen went with me to Millbank. I found myself broadcasting from a broom cupboard. A Labour blogger was elsewhere in the building. A Tory was at Sky HQ in Osterley.

The first question was on MPs’ expenses. I said Gordon Brown was aiming for the sort of system they have in the European parliament. “We don’t want to see the Brussels gravy train arriving at Westminster,” I said.

In reply to the second question I said that the new system would not provide transparency. “It’s public money, and the public has a right to know how it is spent.”

Then they asked me what measure I would most like to see in the budget.

I was ready to talk about Vince Cable’s call for a rise in allowances to take low earners out of income tax altogether. The Labour blogger had already talked about the cut in tax relief on high earners’ pension contributions we would use to pay for this. So I attacked Labour for not having done it sooner.

This television business: there’s nothing to it.