David Maddox: MPs get their holiday

Well that's it then, we almost know exactly when the election will be called.
Harriet Harman announced in the parliamentary business statement that there will after all be an Easter recess in parliament much to the huge relief of MPs who had all but given up on a holiday.
Having said that they will almost certainly be spending their break tramping up and down streets in the phony election war.
MPs quit the Commons for a week on Tuesday 30 March and return on Tuesday 6 April. That means, according to the sears here in the Commons, it is almost certain that Gordon Brown will call the election after Prime Minister's questions on Wednesday 7 April giving us a month to 6 May.

Ross Lydall: Mystery remains over ex-Labour MP's expenses

ONE consequence of the Government's wish to exempt MPs' expenses from freedom of information legislation is to further delay the truth surrounding the final claims made by the former Labour MP David Marshall.
Mr Marshall stood down as MP for Glasgow East last June on grounds of ill health, sparking a shock SNP victory in the subsequent by-election. Conspiracy theories quickly emerged that Mr Marshall - and the Labour party - had been facing embarrassment with the imminent disclosure of eye-wateringly large claims, potentially involving Marshall family members, and that this was a factor in his sudden decision to quit.
Mr Marshall certainly had "form" in claiming large amounts. He claimed £363,080 in the three financial years to March 2007, though his claim in 2006/7 was about £6,000 below the Commons average for the year.
As of today, Parliament is yet to publish MPs' expenses for 2007/8. Normally they would have been released in the autumn. The release of these figures will largely depend on what happens next Thursday, when MPs - and peers - vote on Harriet Harman's proposals to free parliamentarians from the obligation to make public their receipts.
In the interim, we remain uninformed about how public money was used by public servants, and sleights against Mr Marshall cannot be proved or disproved. Justice delayed is justice denied, as campaigners often say.
Time will tell whether justice has been denied to Mr Marshall - or to his former Glasgow constituents, who remain in the dark about whether they were taken for a ride.