Charles Walker calls for the scrapping of the MP's communications allowance thereby saving the taxpayer about £6.5 million per year.

Mr. Charles Walker (Broxbourne) (Con): I am sure that the Secretary of State will appreciate that huge advantages of incumbency are inbuilt in our electoral system. Of course Members of Parliament need money to do their job, but over the past five or six years, we have absolutely stuffed ourselves with additional money. Perhaps the least attractive allowance is the communications allowance. Would it not be a good start if the House got together at the earliest opportunity and scrapped that allowance, thereby saving the taxpayer about £6.5 million a year?

Mr. Straw: There could be great debate about whether incumbents benefit. They do when they are winning, and they do not when they are losing; that is the simple truth about incumbents. The hon. Gentleman's party knows that, and so does mine. There is a great debate, some of which is brought out in the excellent, as ever, Library note, about the alleged benefits or disadvantages of incumbency.

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