The Parliamentary expenses watchdog has apologized after it told MPs they could charge the costs of office Christmas parties to the taxpayer.
British media reported this week that the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) had ruled parliamentarians could claim expenses for staff parties in the festive season, as long as they did not include alcohol.
But IPSA chief executive Ian Todd made a U-turn after seething voters harangued their MPs, and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and other members of the House of Commons said it was inappropriate to ask taxpayers to foot the bill amid the inflationary crisis and looming recession.
"We got the messaging wrong by allowing the impression to form that this is what MPs were wanting to do, rather than our interpretation of the discretion available under the existing rules," Todd said on Thursday night.
He apologized to MPs and their staff "who have had to deal with phone calls, emails and, in some cases, abuse as a result of our guidance."
"In issuing it we also failed to recognise the public mood at a time of severe financial pressures," Todd admitted. "I am sorry for that."
Former Brexit secretary David Davis called IPSA's guidance "bonkers," adding that it "missed the mood of the age."
"There are lots of things we have to spend taxpayers’ money on in terms of providing offices and services and so on," Davis said. "I’m afraid Christmas parties seem to me a bit of a strange pick, particularly this year of all years."
Tory MP Maria Caulfield welcomed the "clarification from IPSA that MPs do not use public funds for Christmas parties," a sentiment echoed by Leader of the House Penny Mordaunt.
MPs' annual salaries of over £84,000 are supplemented by generous taxpayer-funded expenses for offices, staff, travel, meals at work and their rent or mortgage payments on a second home in London so they can attend Parliament.
They also enjoy top-notch food and drink at heavily-subsidised prices in the many bars and restaurants around the Parliamentary estate.
However, wages for MPs were one of the key demands of the 19th-century Chartist movement, which gathered millions of signatures to its petitions demanding democratic reforms to allow those without property to be elected to Parliament.