Leominster Town Council’s bid for closure over one man’s campaign to force MP Bill Wiggin to reveal bills received at his second home for council tax, telephone and utilities, to compare them with amounts received in Parliamentary expenses, hit the buffers this week.
A swift reply from the House of Commons makes clear that the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards is unable to assist the town council in asking Mr Wiggin to respond to their request.
Correspondence between Leominster and Westminster arose in the wake of a specially convened parish meeting earlier this month.
Jim Miller, whose bid for a town council seat during a by-election in June failed as the result of an electoral blunder, put forward a motion calling for a parish poll on the question of whether local constituents wanted their MP to reveal his bills.
On Tuesday, town clerk Christina Bromage reported that a reply had been received from the office of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, which explained that the Commissioner had no authority to extend his role into requiring a MP to put material into the public domain in the way the council suggested. “The Commissioner is therefore not able to assist you in this matter”, it concludes.
The council’s approach was a compromise put forward by Mayor, Councillor Richard Westwood, after Mr Miller’s motion failed to receive backing at the parish meeting after it was revealed that it could cost ratepayers up to £8,000.
This latest development is likely to be debated at the council’s general purposes committee meeting next Tuesday.
