The recent revelations about MPs expense claims have shocked and appalled people – including me. Those MPs who have used expenses for financial gain have damaged people’s faith in Parliament and our democracy. We urgently need strong action to make sure these types of outrageous claims can never happen again. That’s why I’m backing Gordon Brown’s tough new proposals to:

• End Parliament’s system of self-regulation that allowed MPs to set and amend the rules over their own expenses, and move to independent regulation of expenses.
• End the practice of ‘flipping’ homes.
• And make it a criminal offence for any MP to provide information when claiming for an allowance that they know is false or misleading.

I didn’t get into politics for personal gain. Everything I’ve ever done in politics for over 20 years has been voluntary, unpaid and based around my full-time job at Sheffield University.

Public Conduct Pledge

But it’s not just about changing the rules in Parliament. It’s not that simple. People deserve the highest standards of personal conduct from the people that they elect to public office. That’s why, as your parliamentary candidate, I’ve signed a public conduct pledge which you can read here. I promise to always put our constituency's needs first, report back to you regularly, claim only the basic costs needed to do the job and publish all expenses online.

Keeping in touch

Even before the expenses scandal people’s faith in politics was eroding. There are lots of reasons why, but I think one way to tackle it is for politicians to work much harder to keep in touch with people. Politicians make mistakes when they lose touch. I want you to shape my views, which is why I’m absolutely committed to:

• Calling to meet people in their homes every week to find out your views – as I have being doing for the past year.

• Phoning people regularly to keep in touch - which I've also done for over a year now.

• Sending out surveys to get your views – and I’ve already sent out over 25,000 individual letters to residents in Sheffield Central

• Keeping in touch and seeking views by email (if you’d like to join the hundreds of local residents who have signed up to receive my monthly e-newsletters, email me at paul(at)paulblomfield.co.uk)

• Organising local meetings to discuss issues with you, and bringing Government Ministers to our constituency for Q + A sessions open to all residents to have your say.

And none of this would stop if I’m elected as your Member of Parliament. I believe that the only way I could represent you effectively in Parliament would be by always keeping in touch.

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