House of Commons Speaker Michael Martin said today he wanted to tell “the men and women of the United Kingdom” that the Commons had let them down “very badly indeed”.
He said he was “profoundly sorry”.
Mr Martin called Gordon Brown and other party leaders to an emergency meeting on expenses within 48 hours and urged MPs not to submit further second home claims until the matter was resolved.
Mr Martin is trying to quell rapidly-escalating demands for him to quit over his handling of the scandal.
He is speaking just hours after the tabling of a no-confidence motion in him that could see Mr Martin become the first Speaker to be ousted from office in more than 300 years.
His position could be further undermined after it emerged MPs had been allowed by the Commons authorities he oversees to claim taxpayer cash for non-existent mortgage payments.
Chief Whip Nick Brown held urgent talks with Labour MP Ben Chapman and Fees Office officials this morning as he investigates the practice - which was stopped in 2004.
Mr Chapman was said by The Daily Telegraphto have benefited by £15,000 over 10 months after paying off a £295,000 chunk of his mortgage but continuing to claim for interest on the original sum.
The Telegraph, which has obtained the detailed expense claim files of MPs, also published an email between officials which appeared to suggest other MPs had been allowed to do the same.
Pressure on Mr Martin intensified dramatically yesterday when Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg defied Commons convention to demand he resign.
“He has proved himself over some time now to be a dogged defender of the way things are, the status quo, when what we need, very urgently, is someone at the heart of Westminster who will lead a wholesale radical process of reform,” he said.
“I have arrived at the conclusion that the Speaker must go.” Foreign Secretary David Miliband also levelled criticism and declined to declare his confidence in the Speaker - insisting it would be wrong for the government to have a “line” on the issue.
And while he said it would be inappropriate for the Opposition to take a view, shadow foreign secretary William Hague admitted the situation had reached crisis point.
Tory MPs would have a free vote if it came to that, he said.
More MPs from cross-party divides publicly signed up to Tory backbencher Douglas Carswell’s motion yesterday as the momentum for a challenge overcame the traditional reluctance to openly criticise any Speaker.
Mr Martin, who had already angered critics by trying to block publication of MPs’ expenses and failing to push reforms of the system, came under renewed fire last week for rebuking MPs who questioned his approach.
If he fails to announce a decision to step down, he will be forced either to ignore the motion — risking a further backlash - or ask the government to find time to debate it, risking a humiliating exit.
“The statement will be focused on how to resolve the problem of allowances as swiftly as possible,” his spokeswoman said, refusing to say whether he would address his own future directly.
It followed a “fruitful” meeting last week with Committee on Standards in Public Life chairman Sir Christopher Kelly, who is leading a review of the Westminster allowances, she said.
Mr Chapman’s arrangement was the latest expenses revelation to come from the Daily Telegraph, which has obtained details of MPs’ claims.
It said the MP for Wirral South told the Fees Office in a letter: “By paying off capital I am forgoing interest and investment opportunities elsewhere.” The document said that he and an official “thus agreed that the mortgage should remain for ACA (Additional Costs Allowance) purposes at the original amount”.
The newspaper also published part of an email between officials discussing Mr Chapman’s arrangement which appeared to show other MPs were allowed to do the same.
“I have heard similar arrangements being agreed to in the past,” one said.
“Personally, I do not believe that such an arrangement should ever have been suggested.” A Commons spokeswoman told the newspaper: “In October 2003, there was a tightening of the rules for claiming allowances. This was reflected in the 2004 Green Book.”
Two Labour MPs, David Chaytor and Elliot Morley, have been suspended from the Parliamentary Labour Party pending sleaze investigations into how they came to continue claiming for thousands of pounds in mortgage interest after paying off loans.
A panel of senior Scotland Yard officers and prosecutors will meet this week to decide what action to take in response to a surge of complaints that MPs misused parliamentary expenses.
Lawyers have said there would appear to be a case for some to be pursued for theft or other offences — even if they were taking advantage of officially-sanctioned arrangements.
The Telegraphalso published details of MPs who it said had bought household items using second home allowance but had them delivered to their main homes.
Labour MP Madeleine Moon had thousands of pounds worth of furniture delivered to Wales despite her second home being in London and Tory Ed Vaizey, a key ally of party leader David Cameron, had £2,000 of furniture delivered to his London home when his second home was in Oxfordshire, it reported.
PA