IN olden days, before MPs were paid to sit in the Commons, only rich men could afford to stand for Parliament. Clubs grew up around Westminster to provide accommodation for MPs. These only opened Monday to Friday and some still exist Something similar, run by the Sergeant at Arms of the Commons, may be the way forward for MPs’ accommodation in London.

We don’t want to go back to a situation when only rich people can sit in Parliament. MPs should receive a salary. This could be in the form of a daily allowance they receive when they sign in.

But hostels offering free or low-cost grace and favour accommodation to MPs when they are in Westminster may be the answer to their accommodation problem. They would be preferable to the present system of taxpayers buying MPs a London home on expenses.

MPs should buy or rent a home of their own in their constituencies if they are to effectively represent their constituents. Like everyone else, they should pay for this from their income. Free travel for MPs from their constituencies to Parliament encourages this and is already in place.

If I was MP for Darlington I would happily commute daily to and from Westminster when Parliament was in session.

Nigel Boddy, Darlington.

RE your story, “MP was paid £100,000 by fast-food corporation” (Echo, May 28) about Newcastle North Labour MP Doug Henderson’s income as an advisor to McDonald’s.

How can MPs justify claiming additional taxpayers’ money to pay a secretary to do most of their constituency work, which then leaves them free to seek other sources of income?

One of the most lucrative sources of additional income for some MPs, which has not received much attention from the press or the public, is placements on the board of directors of large companies that MPs hold.

It is something of an accomplished status for a public limited company to appoint an MP as a non-executive member of its board, and there is no limit to the number of company boards an MP can be a member of.

Remuneration can be as much as £100,000 per year for each appointment.

Whatever changes are made to the rules of conduct for MPs, I believe that at the top of the list should be a commitment that their pay as an MP, representing their constituents in Parliament, will be their only source of income.

Keith Dewison, Billingham.