Message to MPs – don’t pray for a Kelly rewrite

So is the Kelly report shaking up MPs’ expenses going to be implemented or not?

Reading some newspapers over the last three days, you might get the impression that the new head of the IPSA body which has to implement and run a new expenses system, Sir Ian Kennedy, is throwing out great chunks of Sir Christopher Kelly’s recommendations.

The two men have spoken since those newspaper reports came out and will meet face to face this week.

There are many practical challenges involved in implementing the Kelly report. But MPs who are praying for a complete rewrite are whistling in the dark.

I understand that the IPSA team – small but growing – is planning to put out a draft version of new rules in December and will then consult for something like 4-6 weeks.

IPSA is determined to get the new rules ready to roll from what is known in the jargon as “P+1” – that’s the first day of the new parliament.