I was in the environs of Westminster last evening. I had to leave the event I was at early: if I’d stayed after 9.45 I could not have caught the last train home. And as I did not wish to stay in London overnight that was the end of the matter: leave I did.
Why mention it? Because it shows that if we want MP’s to work late (and we do, it seems — and they do so, as a matter of fact, then second homes are necessary even for those who live 90 miles from London. Indeed, that will be true for those who live somewhat closer too.
So what’s to be done? I’ve discussed the issue with a number of quite well informed people. It seems to me that the solution is simple:
1) Rather as the Church of England provides its ministers with suitable housing so should parliament provide those MPs who need it with suitable housing. It’s not flashy housing. This is work related accommodation. It should not discriminate but is something bigger than a sensible modern 4 bedroom house with a study ever going to be necessary? These are beyond most people’s reach, but within reasonable expectation. If the MP wants something else then they are offered the rent that should a property would cost to secure in their constituency. The property is provided with basic furniture, council tax and equipment servicing paid. After that it’s the MP’s cost.
2) Travel is covered by a free rail and bus pass. Car mileage is strictly on the basis of proven need for the journey and on a mileage basis at HMRC approved rates.
3) Staff are centrally employed with proper recruitment procedures, although the MP must clearly pay a part. these staff are allowed a political role despite being civil servants.
4) An office is provided at Westminster. A constituency office is paid for. All costs must be receipted for payment. A limit ion spending must be set. Research spending is allowed, but evidence as to the issues to which it relates must be supplied.
5) Meals are allowed only when HMRC would do so for employed staff, and at their approved rates.
6) All other expenses must be ‘wholly, exclusively and necessarily’ incurred, be receipted and be subject to proper checking before payment.
I really cannot see what the problem is.
MPs who can’t agree should get out of politics. It’s not meant to be a sinecure. It’s a vocation. We need more who have that vocation in Westminster.
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I think for housing within London why don’t they give the MP’s the same amount of money as they give the OAP’s as a pension!!!
They expect others to be able to live on that amount so they should be more than capable of living on that amount themselves.
I’m not sure why there is any need for parliamentary business to be done so late in the day.
Reduce the number of members, reduce the number of debates, reduce the charades and start work at 9am. In my experience, long hours of working reduces productivity. They should work a 9 to 5.30 day.
Also, I’d suggest that all parties fight against the 24 hour news agenda. Do we really need to see politicians on TV all the time when all they ever do is toe the party line?
And finally, why not allow local people to represent their own communities rather than parachuting party favourites into safe seats. I would have thought the issue of second homes becomes much simpler if you are dealing with somebody who already lives in his or her constituency.
A lot of sense here Richard.
Not sure how/where they should draw the line for those whose constituencies are close to London but that’s a detail.
One crucial point is that MPs should be subject to IDENTICAL rules re obtaining reimbursement of business related expenses as apply to everyone else. There is no justification whatsoever and never was for different rules as to what’s acceptable and whether or not receipts are required.
If MPs were always subject to the same rules as everyone else perhaps they would take more interest in the real impact of the tax laws they pass.
All the MPs caught with their pants down have pleaded that their expenses were cleared by the ‘Fees Office’. The Tory MP who has resigned his position with DC today said that it was agreed that both he and his MP wife could claim for separate second homes. Who the hell are these people responsible to?
Good quote from Seumus Milne in today’s Guardian: “It’s hard, however, not to agree with the actor Stephen Fry, that the blizzard of petty corruption revelations, orchestrated by a newspaper whose owners live in tax exile in the Channel Islands, has got out of hand.”
A four bed house, in london are you kidding me i tell you what we need we need mps like the ones who claimed expenses for their houses which where either already paid for or rented out too another mp who was also claiming for the same property.
fraud anyone!!!!
Its very clear that many of the MP’s who used tax payers money knew exactly what they were doing, rushing to return money when they have been caught is to little to late. I do not know how anyone will ever again trust any of these individuals.
Listening to their excuses shows them up in their true character.
God help us.
I’m quite taken by Mark Thomas’s approach in the Guardian:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/may/14/mps-expenses-mark-thomas
Have you not noticed something interesting? Not a single MP has admitted to having banked in a Kaupthing Bank, or in Northern Rock when it was going to the wall. Now exactly where do they bank I wonder? Ah!… let me guess…I bet a withering £ to a penny that many of them have been stashing it away off-shore. 👿
The problem with Westminster? It’s a parliament that is not representative of the man & woman in the street. The system of selecting parliamentary candidates is elitist, with the Party system having selectors who choose people in their own image. When someone is approached to be a candidate they are made aware of all the ‘benefits’ of being chosen & elected as an MP.
For years the Commons has been a breeding ground of corruption & self-interest. Many MP’s spend more time using their position as MP’s to promote their selfish interests at the expense of the taxpayer. Becoming a non-executive company director is a favourite & lucrative sinecure.
The police should be called in to make a thorough investigation. I would not be surprised to then learn that many will be found not only to have claimed expenses as MP’s but to have claimed the same expenses from companies for whom they work as non-executive directors, etc.
To think, these are the very people that we want to show moral authority & commitment to reform the tax system, rid the world of financial corruption through tax havens etc., and do something to alleviate poverty. Alas! they are the ones who help keep it all going!
Talking of ‘all going’, no one appears to be asking why year in & year out thousands of Pounds of goods are stolen from the Palace of Westminster despite the place crawling with police officers, none of whom last year spotted new chairs valued at £5000 being stolen from right under thir noses!
MP’s have forgotten that we put them where they are.There is no reason why they should not be like the rest of us. If I was to have to stay away from home through work, I would be allowed 27p per mile petrol money and accomodation in a travel lodge.What makes them think they deserve more.It’s an absolute outrage when we have people dying of cancer because there is not enough money in the kitty to treat them. Our soldiers are abroad dying because they haven’t the right equipment and pensioners,after working all their lives,living on next to nothing.This is outright theft from the working class and should be stoppped. They are laughing in our faces
As the tax payer has paid for the furniture and contents of MP’s second homes, why are MP’s allowed to keep it when they are no longer MP’s?? Surely this is making a profit at the taxpayers expence.
Nothing is ever as it seems and I hope that just like the public ‘abhor’ benefits taken by the MP’s that the MP’s respond in kind , and ‘abhor’ benefits they dolled out to the masses and recall them all. That way we all have to work for our money like good honest citizens.
We, the British public do not live in a democracy, we have an unelected leader, our MP’s once elected pay no heed to the people who elected them, perferring to toe the party line. Most of our MP’s are dishonest, they are all arrogant and they have no idea of how the man/woman in the street manage. If Westminster is full of corruption, what about Brusels the BBC and the Royals, Our whole public system needs a review.
Westminster should be stood down, a General Election called,no politician who has been fiddling, even if they claim thier fiddle was within thier rules and have repayed the money should be allowed to stand. We need a new type of Goverment, a Goverment for the people, a honest Goverment, a Goverment that is open, no more stealth taxe’s and un elected advisers, role on the revolution, regarding the Royals, we only need one, the Queen
“we have an unelected leader” Hmm
I don’t like the situation better than any one else but the media are also perpetuating this myth.
His local constituents voted for him and a majority of MPs returned at the last election were from the Labour party.
At the next election WE won’t get to vote for or against GB, simply for a local MP. This is one of the flaws in our system. On the one hand we vote for local MPs but THINK we’re voting for/against the PM.
A similar nonsense was spoken by past leaders of the Liberal Democrats. They suggested that if a hung parliament arose it would be because that was what the country wanted. Rubbish. No one votes for a hung parliamnent. If it happens it’s a function of the numerical balance of MPs who are elected.
(Gets off soapbox and goes back to work)
The time for change has come, but who is going to be responsible for
making and overseeing these changes, i suspect its going to be the same people who got us into this mess in the first place.
We need to change the whole system,not just the Commons and the Lords,
we should take this opportunity to examine the lot,from top to bottom,
nothing is sacred.
Finally,what is going to happen to those that have resigned, it seems they still have one little perk left, about 80,000 pound pay off and a 40,000 pound pension for life. Not bad is it.