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320 replies. On page 1 of 16 pages. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
320 replies. On page 1 of 16 pages. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
Legal / Conditions of Use
Subject: Politicans' expenses
Posted by: lesley153
Date: May 12 09
Jacqui Smith's red-faced husband may not have done his marriage much good, but I think we can perhaps thank him for exposing, and instigating a back-lash against, the sanctioned, subsidised greed of our elected representatives.
The three main political parties are all now making noises of condemnation against claims which may or may not be within the rules, but are clearly wrong. They are all promising repayment and change. Jolly good. Latest pronouncements to follow:
Posted by: lesley153
Date: May 12 09
Jacqui Smith's red-faced husband may not have done his marriage much good, but I think we can perhaps thank him for exposing, and instigating a back-lash against, the sanctioned, subsidised greed of our elected representatives.
The three main political parties are all now making noises of condemnation against claims which may or may not be within the rules, but are clearly wrong. They are all promising repayment and change. Jolly good. Latest pronouncements to follow:
320 replies. On page 1 of 16 pages. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
lesley153 
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Harman seeks review of expenses The Commons authorities have been asked to go back over MPs expenses and order any deemed "excessive" to be paid back. Commons leader Harriet Harman has written to the cross-party committee on MPs' allowances urging it to find out which claims had broken the rules. She also urged a "moratorium" on new claims until the system is sorted out. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8046287.stm 'Appalled' Cameron leads payback David Cameron says he will lead senior Conservatives in repaying "excessive" expenses - warning that he will boot out any Conservative MPs who refuse. The Tory leader apologised to the public, saying he was "appalled" by the expenses that have come to light via leaks to the Daily Telegraph newspaper. In future, Tory MPs will only be allowed to claim for basic costs on second homes such as rent and utility bills and not, as at the moment, for furniture or food. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8044998.stm Clegg: No promises over expenses Nick Clegg has said that the publication of MPs expenses has had a "devastating impact" on the credibility of all politicians. But, speaking to BBC Breakfast, he was unable to give assurances that Liberal Democrat MPs had not made any extravagant claims themselves. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8045182.stm In the interview, he condemns members of parliament behaving like private property developers, helped by susbsidies from the taxpayer. Reply #1. May 12 09, 10:10 AM |
| lesley153
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I managed a bit of a chat with my son about this before. He was stunned to see a claim from John Prescott for a household repair: ~~~ he claimed £20 to have his bog fixed???? ~~~ ' Mr Prescott also put through another £22.50 claim to “replace linkage between siphon and handle to WC” ' ~~~ I'd pay £20 out of my pocket to have this bog fixed for the convenience of not going through the landlord! ~~~ ...and that as a poor student I'd pay my own £20 to fix my landlord's loo ~~~ especially if I'd broken it That's a good point. Wonder how he did break it! Reply #2. May 12 09, 10:15 AM |
| lesley153
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News of repayment now is starting to trickle in. Highest so far is £41,709. I'm sure there'll be higher ones to come, though. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8047410.stm Reply #3. May 13 09, 6:01 AM |
Cymruambyth
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Politicians seem to think that because they hold the strings to the public purse they can dip into it at will. I can see being able to claim the rent on one's home-away-from-home and at least part of the cost of travelling between the capital and one's riding, but nobody held a gun to the head of any politician to force him or her to run for office, so I don't see why they can't buy their own lunches and dinners and other perks out of the hefty salaries we pay them (and some of them are grossly overpaid!) Reply #4. May 13 09, 9:27 AM |
REDVIKING57
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Only two things about this National Disgrace really surprise me. Firstly,that in this age of 'wall-to-wall,24 hour,mass media' coverage it's taken so long! Secondly,that ANYBODY is surprised! They should be subject to the same rules that they impose,through HMRC, on other tax-payers - small businesses in particular!And lets not forget that many of our 'Honourable' representatives,on both sides of the House,are already 'independently wealthy'.It's not a Party Political thing - they're ALL at it!Modern 'Robber Barons'! Reply #5. May 13 09, 9:59 AM |
| lesley153
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There's a letter on teletext today from a pensioner who said that he forgot to declare a small pension, so the Inland Revenue charged him the unpaid tax, plus a fine equal to the unpaid tax. So when Hazel Blears "remembers" to pay the £13,000 capital gains tax on the sale of a second home, will she too be fined an additional £13,000? Watch this space? Someone else has suggested communal digs in London - much like a nurses' home. I like that idea! Reply #6. May 13 09, 2:19 PM |
mjws1968
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There is a certain security risk to having all those MPs sleeping in the same building, another Brighton bombing scenario is possible. Any of them whose constituency is within 2 hours of Parliament by public transport or car should not need a second home, they can commute like us mere mortals. Any MP whose constituency is further than that can stay in one of those half-empty hotels all over London. All MPs should get a fixed allowance for this, so many pennies a mile or a fixed payment for a hotel and the rest can come our of their considerable salaries. In times of economic hardship their greed is double appalling, it's a shame we don't have an option of "none of the above" on the ballot paper, or the option of a write-in candidate, that would make them a little less sure of themselves. Reply #7. May 14 09, 12:51 AM |
trojan11
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Well, who will be next for the 'naughty chair'? This is an absolute hoot! Watching them all run around waving receipts and bleating, "Me-me-me. I've been naughty too, but look, I'm owning up and I'm going to pay it all back, weely-weely-weely, I am, 'cos I'm a good boy/girl now." And then, with huge cheesy grins, they waddle off expecting to be forgiven because they've owned up just before the axe falls. Have we ever had so many petty crooks rushing forth to admit to their crimes? Reply #8. May 14 09, 1:56 AM |
C30
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Actually, "by the rules" most of them are only guilty of "milking the system", not fiddling it! If "rules" allow everything, including the kitchen sink, to be claimed on "expenses", claimed it will be. It is the system that is wrong as well as the participants, many of whom have hardly been reluctant to abuse it and are "sorry" inasmuch as they have been caught with snouts buried deep in trough, no "sorry" to have done it in first place. Unfortunately as I see it, all an election will do is throw up a whole new lot eager for their turn at the trough. The rules need changing to make abuse of the system less easy, but as it is the MP's that make the rules in the first place, the old "turkeys voting for Christmas" comes to mind. Reply #9. May 14 09, 2:30 AM |
s-m-w
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“There is a certain security risk to having all those MPs sleeping in the same building, another Brighton bombing scenario is possible” There is also a certain security risk to those self same people who one can see dozing during “working hours” on TV, any overnight accommodation would be no more difficult to secure than Parliament itself. One could also envisage the use of safe premises such as prisons for those needing secure overnight digs. In fact prison is where many of these “honourable” people deserve to be. Think the topic has struck a nerve with the UK taxpayer and that many or perhaps most are surprised at the extent this has been allowed to be misused. Am sick and tired (as are many others) hearing all the empty apologies, of course they are “sorry”, sorry indeed they have been caught out and ridiculed for their greedy avaricious misuse of such a badly controlled system. It will be interesting to watch the results of the next elections, am sure many of those who have been caught out will be reading the results in their seaside (second or third) homes paid for with our tax revenue. Yes they are sorry, but the gravy train will only suffer a short delay, the next one will be arriving as soon as the media coverage has died down. Reply #10. May 14 09, 3:33 AM |
| trojan11
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Guilty of milking the system not fiddling it? Of course, and one must be generous of heart when a former government minister claims that he 'forgot' that he'd paid off his mortgage and then, in his state of forgetfulness, claimed a further £16000 in interest payments, and in the same state of forgetfulness kept the money, presumably because he never did remember that he owned the house that he lived in/claimed for. I should very much like to see the 'milked' rule that allowed him to do this. Fiddling, is what it was, and fiddling the State is what many of them have been doing for years! Reply #11. May 14 09, 4:18 AM |
| REDVIKING57
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Oh,this is just great! Latest snout dippers: Married couple,both M.P.s, AND BOTH claiming 'second home allowances'! And this is called 'Public Service'......... Giz a job,I can do dat......... Reply #12. May 14 09, 5:06 AM |
| C30
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Trojan...........you miss the point........what I am driving at is that claiming expenses itself is perfectly "legal", they are not doing something that they are not permitted to do. What they are doing is claiming as much as they think they can get away with.....in other words abusing the system. "Fiddling" the system I would classify as finding a loophole that enabled them to claim, when no such claim was legal. However, 'tis a mute point I am sure.......we are mostly all agreed that the activities of MP's in this matter are at the best irresponsible. Reply #13. May 14 09, 5:07 AM |
| C30
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RedViking..............me too! In fact, if there is such a thing as reincarnation, I'm putting a request in to God to come back as an MP! Reply #14. May 14 09, 5:09 AM |
| trojan11
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No, C30, bless you for mentioning it, but I did not miss the point, moot or otherwise. My point being, that right in the middle of all this 'milking', there is a great deal of criminality, now being disguised as 'milking' in order to convince the gullible that they (the MPs) were only interpreting the rules in a way most favourable to themselves, as any one else might, in a similar situation. Some did simply 'milk', whilst others 'fiddled'. Those that merely milked are guilty of nothing more than betraying a nation's trust in their honesty. Whilst with regard to others, even a blind monkey can see that a considerable level of 'fiddling' has gone on here. Reply #15. May 14 09, 6:34 AM |
Professer
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Whats new about this, it has been going on for over the last 30 years or so. One thing i can remember one so called honurable gentlemen was being paid his parliamnetary salary yet had been off sick for over a year, he lived in a castle in Scotland and was Claiming the then eqiuivalant of Incapacity benefit. He was caught out and he claimed he was only claiming what he was legally entitled too. At the time Thatcher and her cronies were persecuting the sick and disabled who through no fault of there own were caught in the Unemployment figure manipulation by the then Government put people on sick they don't show up on the Unemplyment figures. Yet the genuine sick were made to feel like scroungers. Every Government has it's faults and it is in my eyes totally unacceptable what this current crop are doing not just the Labour mps which is what the Telegraph were aiming at but all parties, they tackled the other parties when threatend with legal action. It is not just parlaiment either that has it check your local councils out see what they are claiming, i recall one such councillor who had three holidays a year at the tax payers expense on the pretext of promoting tourism, Germany, in the winter for the Skiing, disneyland for the summer with his kids and australia in the autumn. The said councillor threatened me with legal action and when i turned up for a appointment with the councils solicitor and the Councilor guess who failed to show. It is time the whole expenses system both Government and Council were radically overhauled. Reply #16. May 14 09, 6:52 AM |
| lesley153
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The man who "forgot" that he'd repaid his mortgage has now been suspended from his party. Be interesting to know if the suspension is permanent. The male half of the married couple (with different surnames), both members of parliament, both claiming for second homes, has left his job as "aide" (whatever that means) to the party leader. Be interesting to know if he gets his job back, or if hers is jeopardised. I'm sure the number of rolling heads will snowball. At least I hope that these two aren't just token sacrifices, one from each party, who said "sorry" the loudest, got a smacked wrist, and will be back where they were by the end of the month. If that happens, then Parliament will have seriously misjudged public anger. Reply #17. May 14 09, 11:02 AM |
| trojan11
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Lesley, one can only hope that the poor boy can find his way to whichever of the homes that he's forgotten. Reply #18. May 14 09, 1:20 PM |
| lesley153
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He may need us to help him remember how many he's got. Reply #19. May 14 09, 3:18 PM |
| lesley153
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A labour member has been suspended from the party, a Conservative aide has resigned from his job, and now we have the confession of a Lib Dem member: "Liberal Democrat MP Lembit Opik has said that he is willing to repay a £40 summons for non-payment of council tax claimed on his expenses." That's it, we have a full set: one from each of the three main parties. Honour satisfied, public trust fully restored, move on, look forward to a 100% turn-out in the next elections. Or perhaps not. Reply #20. May 14 09, 3:25 PM |
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