MPs should no longer be able to claim for mortgages or employ family members at the taxpayer’s expense, a report by the standards watchdog said yesterday.

Two Worcestershire MPs have said their opinions on the recommendations are “irrelevant” and they have no option but to follow the rules and get on with their jobs.

Sir Christopher Kelly, chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, said his blueprint was “fair and reasonable”.

The key recommendations include giving the new Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) the power to determine the pay and pensions of MPs as well as their expenses.

In future, MPs should only be able to claim for rent or hotel costs, while the expenses scheme should only cover council tax, utility bills, telephone line rental and calls, security, contents insurance and removals at the beginning and end of a tenancy.

The practice of MPs employing members of their families should be brought to an end by the end of the next Parliament, or within five years.

Worcester’s Labour MP Mike Foster, who employs his wife, said: “It is irrelevant what I think about it. It is up to others to judge whether the recommendations are appropriate. We will just get on and do our jobs.

“As an MP you sign up to the rules that Parliament applies and you work to those rules.”

Peter Luff, Conservative MP for Mid-Worcestershire, who had previously threatened to quit if he was not allowed to employ his wife, said: “I think there is a very strong probability that the implementation of its conclusions will do much to restore faith in the political process.

“Of course, what MPs think of this report is, in any event, largely irrelevant because from now on, and rightly, our pay and expenses will all be set and controlled by outside, independent bodies.”

Conservative Sir Michael Spicer, who is due to retire as MP for West Worcestershire at the next General Election, was unavailable to comment.

But he writes in today’s Worcester News: “Now the rules have been changed retrospectively I shall settle whatever demand is made of me in order to draw a line under the matter.

“Finally, and hopefully for the last time, I do not have a helipad and my chandelier only has one bulb.”

Wyre Forest MP Dr Richard Taylor was unavailable for comment yesterday.