Kelly's MP plans won't work.

ChriSToPher Kelly's proposals need proper examination by the independent Parliamentary Standards Authority -- not because, as you argued in your leader column yesterday, MPs want to "water them down" but because many are so impractical.

Kelly wants MPs to list all travel claims including the distance and purpose of each journey. i already list the 250 journeys i take each month; if i am expected to go through the rigmarole of explaining exactly why i made each one, i will be losing time i could otherwise be spending addressing constituents' needs.

The idea of allocating MPs' secondhome accommodation on a crude bureaucratic basis through a parliamentary estate agency is potentially disastrous. Why can't the authorities get an estate agent's valuation, then pay the market rental? The room i currently rent in London costs me [pounds sterling]100 a week. Under Kelly's proposals, i would automatically have [pounds sterling]1,200 a month at my disposal which i don't need.

Prospective candidates for the next election will be immediately hit by rules banning them from employing their spouses. Parliamentary spouses will, however, be able to work for the MP in the next-door constituency, provided they have gone through fair and open competition for the job. Where is the consistency in Kelly's provisions? The result of Kelly's changes will be to restrict the role of MP to the independently wealthy and young apparatchiks without dependants -- or any experience of work outside the Westminster bubble. What 35-year-old with a mortgage and young family would want to do the job? roger gale, Conservative MP for north thanet.

i don'T have a problem with any of the Kelly recommendations -- and it is my view that unless any were completely unworkable we should adopt them whether we have a problem with them or not. The behaviour of some MPs has made it impossible for us to regulate our own conduct. i don't think there will be any appetite for overturning Kelly, though a few individuals may complain.

Kelly has not gone far enough in some respects. if MPs have time to do significant amounts of outside work they either don't have enough to do or they are not doing their job properly. Kelly has also failed to address the disparities in workloads and costs for MPs in different regions and constituency types. London MPs and their constituents are the biggest losers from the current system. andrew slaughter, Labour MP for ealing, acton and shepherd's Bush.