MPs and their pocket filling ways
Now we find out that we pay for MPs spouses to watch porn and children’s films. The whole MPs expenses issue is becoming a serious issue that extends way beyond the sums of money involved. Us ‘normal’ people have to pay for the travel to our work out of our pockets; if we work a long way from our family home, we have to pay for accomodation out of our own pockets; if our families want to watch pay-for-view television (whatever the content), we pay. We usually can’t even claim the expense back against our tax. Our MPs not only think we should pay for such things, we shouldn’t even know how much they’ve had or what they spent it on.
Many families are expected to live on incomes less than the MPs take in second home allowances. Yet these same MPs manage to sit in front of their constituents and explain that thet are doing everything in their power to help through the current crisis. With this greedy “if I can claim it, I will” culture rampant in government, is it any wonder the banking, finance and big business sectors became so bloated with greed and self-interest. It is an issue of morality; for an MP to take a six figure sum for spending a few nights a week at her sister’s house is wrong by any standard except that expected by the Public Accounts Committee. For another to claim for staying at his parents’ house occassionally, especially when it is less than a half-hour drive from his own home, displays an incredible degree of greed and selfishness. If you are unemployed or on a low income and live in accomodation owned by a family member, you will not be paid housing benefit and your family will be expected to support you!
I feel the need to start a database of MPs, detailing the amounts they have claimed, what they have claimed for and the MPs stated attitude towards Freedom of Information (FoI) and the issue of the exemption of MPs expenses from the FoI legislation. Until we get full disclosure of MPs expenses (and I doubt we ever will), such a database will never be complete, but I think a strong correlation between large, ridiculous or dubious claims and an opposition to disclosure of expenses through FoI would be quickly established.
