MPs have backed down from calling for the independent expenses watchdog to be broken up amid continuing anger over the administration of the system.
Instead, the Commons decided that the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa) should consider the proposals of a cross-party committee which recommended it could be stripped of some of its functions. They agreed that the Committee on Members' Expenses report should be considered by Ipsa as part of its annual review.
Committee chairman Adam Afriyie did not force MPs to vote on whether to accept all the report's recommendations, which would have included setting up an assessment of whether flat-rate supplements should be used instead of current transport and accommodation allowances.
The committee's report urged legislation to force the watchdog to change unless it acted by April and called for independent research into using flat-rate supplements instead of current transport and accommodation allowances.
The report suggested it could "simplify" the system by using "geographically-differentiated supplements" which would be added to salaries in the same way as the existing weightings for inner and outer London MPs.
Ipsa has already responded to fury among MPs by loosening rules to permit more spending on accommodation and travel for families, and staffing. But the committee dismissed changes made so far as "insufficient" and branded the status quo "untenable".
The MPs insisted: "The administration of the system does not provide value for money; MPs are being hindered in carrying out their parliamentary duties and deterred from making legitimate claims, to the detriment of their constituents and the democratic process.
"Transparency is not achieving its purpose of enabling the public to make informed judgments about the costs incurred by individual MPs and to make valid comparisons between them; and MPs with families or without independent means are being placed at a disadvantage, with long-term consequences for the future composition of the House."
Both the Government and Labour frontbenches backed the amendment which called for the report to be considered by Ipsa, but opposed accepting Mr Afriyie's committee's recommendations.