WEST Somerset MP Ian Liddell-Grainger says plans to stop MPs employing family members will backfire on taxpayers.

Mr Liddell-Grainger, who employs his wife Jill as a secretary, says he will have to pay new staff more than double to do the work she does.

He spoke to the County Gazette after details were leaked today of Sir Christopher Kelly’s report on reforms to MPs' expenses, which is due to be published next Wednesday.

According to stories in the national media, the report will recommend MPs are banned from claiming for mortgage interest payments on second homes – instead they will be told to rent second homes – and are banned from employing family members. The changes will reportedly be phased in over five years.

Mr Liddell-Grainger said he would be happy to accept the report’s recommendations, but warned the real loser would not be him, but the taxpayer.

He said: “The silly thing about it all is that it will probably cost £50,000 to employ somebody in London, which is more than twice what Jill gets.”

He said his wife was paid at the lower end of the ‘senior secretary’ scale, which ranges from £17,443 to £30,363.

He added: “She deals with all the things I need to deal with in the House of Commons and the constituency. She does everything to do with select committees and standing committees. In the constituency she deals with all the behind-the-scenes stuff, making sure I get from A to B and she arranges my meetings.

“She works on Saturdays and Sundays, during holidays and she’s often at the computer late into the night.

“I couldn’t ask anybody else to do that.”

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