Brown to push MP expense claim reforms

LONDON, June 10 (UPI) -- British Prime Minister Gordon Brown plans to quickly push through legislation changing Parliament's controversial expense reimbursement system, sources say.

Fresh from surviving a Labor Party challenge to his leadership, Brown plans to try to regain the political initiative by proposing that an independent regulator and a legal code of conduct be established to govern expense claims made by members of Parliament, sources told Wednesday's Times of London.

The unidentified sources said Brown's goal is to have the new reimbursement system in place before the end of the fall parliamentary session, hoping to put an end to an enduring scandal in which MPs have been shown making dubious personal expense claims and "flipping" second homes to take advantage of claims rules.

The Times reported that Brown has also indicated for the first time that he is open to debating proposed changes in Britain's "first-past-the-post" electoral system in the name of cleansing politics, but will insist that a referendum would be needed to scrap the current system.