UK Speaker Martin to step down over scandal

London: The speaker of Britain's lower house said on Tuesday he would step down in June after lawmakers from all the main parties demanded he resign over an expenses scandal that has tarnished the reputation of parliament.

Michael Martin, 63, becomes the most senior figure to step down after parliamentarians' expense claims triggered outrage across the country and opposition calls for an early general election.

"In order that unity can be maintained, I have decided that I will relinquish the office of speaker on Sunday, June 21," Martin said in a short statement to parliament.

Parliament will elect a new speaker - who could come from any of the major parties - on June 22.

Martin, a former sheet metal worker and trade unionist, is also stepping down as a lawmaker for his home city, Glasgow.

The last speaker forced from the post was John Trevor, who lost the confidence of the house in 1695 for taking a bribe.

This will leave Prime Minister Gordon Brown's struggling Labour government to fight a by-election in what was once a safe seat but could now be a magnet for anti-sleaze campaigners.

The speaker is parliament's most senior official and his departure escalates the crisis engulfing British politics.

Criticised

Martin has been criticised for opposing transparency on expense claims by members of parliament (MPs) but some lawmakers said he was being made a scapegoat for parliament's failings.

"If people think merely getting the speaker's head is going to be enough to assuage the justifiable public anger ... then I think they are very much mistaken," Martin Salter, an MP for the ruling Labour party, said.

Many lawmakers said they wanted a reforming speaker to cut through parliament's cosy gentlemen's club atmosphere.

The ancient institution has been damaged by a series of reports in the Daily Telegraph newspaper based on leaked information on how members milked the expenses system to supplement an annual salary of around 65,000 pounds ($100,700).

Revelations about lawmakers' lavish expense claims have dominated the headlines for nearly two weeks, prompting public fury in Britain as it struggles with its worst recession since the Second World War.

The Daily Telegraph newspaper has published leaked documents showing how MPs claimed from the public purse for everything from food and drink to repairs to a swimming pool, tennis court and a castle moat and installing a chandelier.

Both of the main political parties have announced action to crack down on over-extravagant spending.

Brown said that no MP who had defied expenses rules would be allowed to stand at the next general election.

David Cameron, leader of the main opposition Conservatives who polls tip to be premier within about a year, has forced some of his lawmakers to pay back expenses and is publishing all the party's claims online.

Meanwhile, Douglas Hogg, a backbench Conservative who charged taxpayers for the cost of cleaning the moat at his country home, said he would not stand at the next election.

Commentators said Martin was doomed following a stumbling, bad-tempered session in the House of Commons on Monday when he made a statement on the row but still faced repeated calls to quit.

Stuart Bell, a Labour lawmaker and Martin ally, said the speaker had "paid a heavy price for trying to be an establishment figure when the establishment was falling away".

"A speaker of the House of Commons must have authority," he said. "Michael Martin clearly lost it yesterday."