Snouts still in the trough

[wolfie]

Paul, you have just spoilt a run of sensible posts

[Bazj]

or

[Eagle]

nor

[Paul Kennedy]

Paul, you have just spoilt a run of sensible posts

 

Yes sorry about that Wolfie.

[observer]

Well as the Wintertons join the mass exit from the House; MPs can be secure in the knowledge that they've had fun at the tax-payers expense for a few decades, and can now look forward to 6 months severance pay; a gold plated pension and no doubt a profit on the sale of their second homes! On the downside, their close relatives may have to find jobs that they are qualified for and be subjected to interviews, while they could possibly hook up with some lobby group or firm as consultants.

[Paul Kennedy]

Just reading an article in the Daily Telegraph on the "remuneration" paid to elected representatives elsewhere, seems our lot are rather amateur when it comes to milking the system. The following comment in relation to Kenya (don't we give them aid ) caught my eye:

 

"..........but the gold standard for political banditry is being set in Kenya. There, a back-bench MP earns a minimum of ?90,000 a year in salary and untaxed allowances ? in a country where half the population live on less than 75p a day. Last year, a proposal to tax Kenyan MPs on their allowances was voted down three times, leading to protests and the arrest in December of anti-corruption activists. "What's happening in the UK reminds Kenyans of how their own parliamentarians have voted themselves tax-free allowances with impunity," explains Mwalimu Mati, head of Mars Group, an anti-corruption watchdog."

[Paul Kennedy]

Bit more from the article:

 

"Even the lowliest French deputy receives more than ?240,000 (?211,000) a year in pay, unaudited expenses and provision for staff salaries, plus free train and plane travel, even though more than 80 per cent of them have other jobs, such as being town mayors. The president of the French senate commands an undisclosed and virtually uncontrolled expenses budget, said to be about ?2.2 million per year. Senators receive approximately ?10,000 a month in pay and expenses regardless of whether they show up: one has not been seen in six years.

 

In Italy, where the extraordinary perks and nepotism of the political class were the subject of La Casta ?The Caste ? a best-selling book in 2007, politicians take home ?14,000 a month in pay and allowances, after tax. Italy's two-chamber parliament costs more to maintain than any other in Europe, with the president's headquarters costing four times that of Buckingham Palace. Italian members of parliament have even been entitled to individual tennis coaching. Their behaviour also gives the lie to the argument, often made here, that if we paid our MPs more, we might have more intelligent politicians. When a television programme quizzed some MPs about world affairs recently, one thought that Nelson Mandela was from South America, while another said Guant?namo was in Iraq.....................

 

We should probably be grateful, then, that British impropriety goes only so far. As Viktor Shenderovich, a media commentator on Russian radio, whose puppet show based on Spitting Image was banned some years ago, explains: "What the British judge as abuse of the political system simply makes Russian deputies and the Russian people laugh.

 

"The scope of corruption in Russia cannot compare with the shameful pettiness of British MPs. The small-mindedness arouses only disgust.""

[Paul Kennedy]

"A large number of parliamentarians were just as aware as their greedier colleagues were of the possibilities for unscrupulous financial gain provided by the way in which Westminster's fees office operated; but their consciences would not allow them to behave in this way. In very rough terms, it seems as though about a quarter of the MPs were able to resist all such temptations. I leave it to the individual readers to estimate what proportion of a cross section of the general public would show similar high-mindedness, particularly if they were sitting in safe seats for decades." - Dominic Lawson in The Independent

 

and

 

"So our MPs demand second homes? Fine. Stick them in a caravan on an illegal gipsy site. The gipsies and our crooked MPs should get along just fine together. Both think they are above the law. Both think rules are for other people. Both dodge paying their taxes. Both treat honest hard-working taxpayers with sneering contempt." - Fergus Shanahan in The Sun

[Paul Kennedy]

....and

 

"I can hardly believe the number of thieves, liars and tax fiddlers still in post. We must clear up this mess. Ann Widdecombe MP - Daily Mail

[observer]

Guess this could open a few doors for any potential MPs out there - Paul?!

[byrdy]

Guess this could open a few doors for any potential MPs out there - Paul?!

 

Well,he has changed his sig in the last few days,so who knows?

[Paul Kennedy]

I don't expect to be getting a call.

 

PS My sig. will return to the more humorous version after June 4th.

[observer]

Well with Dave opening up the selection lists to all comers; perhaps he wants a new crew, who will "do what they are told" without being "told what to do"?! With all the Party Leaders fighting to give more "power to the people"; now the anachronistic shambles called Parliamentary democracy has been uncovered; we can look forward to some radical changes - but I wouldn't hold my breath - they all claim a desire to devolve power, up to the point the get hold of it!

[Paul Kennedy]

Guess this could open a few doors for any potential MPs out there - Paul?!

 

Guess when I stood in 2005 as an Independent I was an election too soon.

[Grumpy old man]

With all of these latest scandals, I have decided that I will vote at the next general election.

 

If I have a candidate I will vote for UKIP.

 

My reasons are,

 

1; Europe doesn't work. We don't need to contribute to it.

 

2; Immigration. We are full. Try applying for a low pay job.

 

3; Racism. It's a horrible thing. That's why I looked at, and discarded the BNP as an option.

 

With all that has been revealed I will not give my vote to any of the three major parties that make our political system. Indeed they have made it what it is, a self serving means to an end.

 

If there is no UKIP candidate, then I shall vote for an independant.

 

I will definately vote.

[observer]

UKIPs Leader, Nigel Farage, will be on the panel for Question Time tommorrow night.

[observer]

Where he announced the fact, that MEPs had just voted themselves a 45% pay increase and can make over ?900pw on their travel allowances!

[observer]

See our MPs have been fiddling their Council Tax too.

[Lt Kije]

50 been named up to now

[The Equaliser]

Yes, I can see how people can be so outraged at the MPs expenses debacle that they would vote UKIP...

 

Nigel Farage has openly boasted about screwing the EU for ?2 million since his election five years ago...

 

How is that any sensible use of a vote? The mind boggles!

[observer]

Are you suggesting that he has done something illegal, or done something the rest of the MEPs are not doing? I guess any allowances he has, are used to fund UKIP rather than himself, unlike the mainstream troughers.

[observer]

Seems two Tory MPs are now asking for their salaries to be doubled - in return for scrapping the second homes allowance; they clearly live in a parallel universe.

[Paul Kennedy]

Looks as though one of the carriages on the gravy train has hit the buffers...hopefully!

 

MPs are to be barred from using taxpayers' money to pay their mortgages.

A confidential report conducted for the official review following the expenses scandal says there is no case for continuing the present system, which allows MPs to make huge profits at taxpayers' expense.

The study, by financial experts KPMG, suggests that only MPs whose constituencies are beyond a 90-minute commute from Westminster should be allowed to claim for a second home. Even then, they should only be permitted to receive money for rent or hotel bills.

The report says the present system, allowing MPs to claim ?24,000 a year towards a mortgage, is unheard of.

It states: 'The reimbursement of business expenses should be just that. There should be no personal element or private gain available to the MP in relation to this.

'Whilst the role of an MP is a unique one, the pattern of how they operate is not unusual in either the private or public sector.

'There are often situations where an employee splits his duties between two permanent places of work. Employers will generally reimburse hotel accommodation or rental accommodation, but in our experience they do not reimburse the mortgage interest payments in respect of a second home.'

The use of taxpayers' money to pay mortgage interest has been one of the most controversial aspects of the MP expenses system.

 

 

 

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1211857/MPs-gravy-train-end-official-expenses-review-moves-ban-mortgage-payments.html#ixzz0QVKYGUT0

 

 

It would be interesting to know if some PPC's are still as keen to become MPs now that the expenses are being tightened up....and the job no longer is as remunerative.

[observer]

Wow! Is this the Tory Revolution? A 10% cut in MPs, and a bit of tinkering with their perks - come on Paul, if your going to wield the knife get it in deep:- Try - a 50% cut in MPs saving ?40million; NO more "expenses"; flat in a London Hostel provided; income from the sale of second homes given back to tax-payers; then they can start on the House of Lords.

[Paul Kennedy]

Don't disagree with you Observer. With regards to a cut in the number of MPs/Councillors etc, I think it's a matter for the Electoral Commission, so saying and doing might pose a problem. What Governments can do is cut the number of Ministers, departments and therefore the massive cost of government itself. Worth noting that 250 years ago we ran an empire with a very small government. I do agree that profits on the sale of subsidised second homes should be returned to the state....or the profits taxed. I have no problems with payments being made for the modest rent of a flat in London or Monday - Wednesday night in a hotel (personally had I have become an MP I would have stayed in a hotel.........or a room in a club...they are very reasonable, rather than rent a flat), the same principle as working away on business. Best not put them all in a hostel somewhere Observer it would make too tempting a target.