Put up or shut up?

One of the main questions arising out of the Legg controversy is whether MPs should put up or shut up.  Like John Hutton, I tend to think that they should just pay what’s asked of them, hope that restores some public faith in the political class, and get on with reforming the expenses system for the future.  But there is room for nuance in all this.  For instance, we shouldn’t expect those MPs who are the genuine victims of errors and inconsistencies to automatically take the path of least resistance.  The problem, of course, is working out which ones really are the “genuine” cases.

But there’s no nuance necessary when it comes to this story highlighted by the Guardian’s Deborah Summers.  A cross-party group of MPs has just put forward a motion complaining that half the seats reserved for them in a Parliamentary cafe are now being made available to the public.