Ann Haigh calls on Speaker to act now or stand down

7.04.27am BST (GMT +0100) Tue 19th May 2009

Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Campaigner Councillor Ann Haigh has joined forces with 55 other Liberal Democrat candidates and written to the Speaker of the House of Commons calling him to accept an independent review or step down.

The Liberal Democrats have long been calling for the way MPs claim their expenses to be reformed. Last July a Liberal Democrat proposal was voted down by 148 Labour MPs and 21 Conservative MPs, including Epping Forest's Eleanor Laing, which would mean all MPs' expenses claims would be available to an independent audit.

Earlier this week, Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg broke with tradition and called for the Speaker to step down.

Councillor Ann Haigh said "The past few weeks have been damaging for all of us who are involved in local politics. The Speaker should take action at once to make the expenses culture more transparent and to start to breathe confidence back into democracy."