Disclosed

U.K. lawmakers lose challenge to ruling on expenses

U.K. lawmakers may be forced to release work-related expenses and home addresses after a court dismissed a lawsuit seeking to block their publication.

The High Court in London said today that it didn't have the jurisdiction to “interfere” in the case. The House of Commons, the U.K.'s primary legislative chamber, appealed a February ruling by the chamber's Information Tribunal ordering members to publicly disclose their expenses.

The ability of members of the British Parliament to claim allowances to furnish and pay the mortgage interest on second homes is coming under increased scrutiny as mortgage costs and home repossessions for voters are rising.

“This is a victory for taxpayers and democracy in Britain,” said Matthew Elliott, chief executive officer of the TaxPayers' Alliance. “People have a right to know what their elected representatives are doing and taxpayers deserve to know how their money is being spent.”

Lawmakers are entitled to claim a set of allowances that can total as much as three times their 62,000-pound ($121,000) annual salaries, covering the cost of maintaining homes both in Lonodn and their electoral constituency. It also goes for travel and office expenses. Lawyers for the politicians argued they had “a reasonable expectation that the relevant information would not be publicly disclosed.”

‘Reality'

“The reality is that an individual who is determined to discover a residential address of an adult law-abiding citizen is likely to be able to do that by one legal means or another,” judges David Latham and Nicholas Blake said in the ruling today.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown's spokesman, Michael Ellam, said the issue was entirely a matter for the House of Commons.

“The prime minister has made clear that he is relaxed about the disclosure of his expense details,” Ellam said.

The judges delayed the release of the information until May 23 to give the lawmakers time to challenge today's decision at the Court of Appeal. If lawmakers decide to appeal again there will be a hearing, and a ruling, next week, they said.

Since former Prime Minster Tony Blair introduced the Freedom of Information Act in 2000 the government has faced a slew of requests for data from members of the public and journalists.

Today's case was started by public interest groups and journalists who complained to the Information Commissioner after their data applications relating to 14 lawmakers were refused.

(Published by Bloomberg 16, 2008)