We have been feeling pretty sorry for ourselves throughout the Expenses Crisis in the past few weeks, but I invite right hon. and hon. Members to reflect on the fact that there are people who are facing far greater challenges and dangers and far more pain than we are.
These steps to sort out the Expenses Crisis are necessary, but we all know that they are not sufficient.
It will come before the House of Commons for its Second Reading very soon, but before that we have to deal with the Expenses Crisis.
I am glad that the Opposition parties and I can agree on that, and we should get those proposals through, but I think that there is an unwillingness on the part of the Conservatives to admit the seriousness with which the public have taken the Expenses Crisis.
Those steps to sort out the Expenses Crisis are necessary, but I think we all know that they are not sufficient.
The Government will introduce a constitutional renewal Bill soon, but we must first address the issues raised by the Expenses Crisis.
That is backed up by academic research, so we cannot simply leave the issue of safe seats on one side and look only at the Immediate Expenses Crisis.
Public confidence in the Commons - and, indeed, the whole of Parliament - has been shaken by the Expenses Crisis.
So I urge hon. Members to support my Bill today, as a first step towards restoring the authority, legitimacy and standing of this House Let today mark the nadir of the Expenses Crisis, the moment at which things began to improve.
The hon. Member for Cannock Chase mentioned the Expenses Crisis.
We have not a word in the gracious Speech in response to the Expenses Crisis.
The Expenses Crisis was just the end result of the many things that built up to it, but there is one thing in the political structure that worries me.
There is good will towards the coalition, a hope that it may portend a fresh politics, but that sentiment has not dissipated the folklore that Members of Parliament are too biddable by their leaders and Whips and, as exposed by the Expenses Crisis, venal.
However, given what had taken place - the MPs' Expenses Crisis and the response that came forth with the new legislation - IPSA has done its best.
Yet, from his seat at the desk he has offered quiet, wise and courageous advice - never more so than in the wake of the Expenses Crisis, as the Leader of the House has recalled.
As the Expenses Crisis showed, unless apparently minor breaches of the rules of conduct are challenged and remedied, they can all too easily become endemic and inflamed and so seriously damage the reputation of the House”.
Further concern was expressed during the MPs' Expenses Crisis, including by the Committee on Standards in Public Life.
Some of that has, of course, been due to the Expenses Crisis, but it is by no means either the only or the first reason.
The merit of the Government's Bill is that at least it adequately formalises the sanctions around criminal misbehaviour and malfeasance, taking into account the reforms, openness and transparency that have been in place since the Expenses Crisis.
During the 2009 Expenses Crisis, one thing we knew was that everybody nationally hated MPs, but on a constituency basis many people said, “No, we don't like MPs, but our MP is okay.