Peers' Expenses Allowance

22.

Mr. Arthur Lewis
asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he is aware that the £16·50 per day tax-free expenses allowed as an attendance payment to members of the House of Lords is worth over £25 per day gross to the overwhelming majority of the recipients, that to many it is worth between £44·07 to £97·06 per day; and whether, in the interests of his wages, prices and incomes policy, he will make these payments conditional upon a peer proving that his other public and/or private income payments are below £5,000 per annum.

Mr. Joel Barnett
I refer my hon. Friend to the reply given by my right hon. Friend the Lord President to my hon. Friend the Member for Kingswood (Mr. Walker) on 22nd March.—[Vol. 928, c. 468.]