Commenting in advance of the expected vote this Thursday (22nd January) the Cheadle Liberal Democrat MP declared, "This is just the latest attempt to prevent full publications of expenses. In 2007 former Conservative Chief Whip David McLean introduced similar proposals which only fell when no member of the House of Lords was prepared to take them forward. I was strongly opposed to these ill thought out proposals at the time and, if anything, I am even more firmly against it now. It beggars belief that the Government have now decided to give these plans official backing. Parliament should not proscribe rules for all other public bodies that it does not apply to itself, and to do so would be simply hypocritical"