MP's are Expenses to have around...
23rd Mar 2009 22:32:41
Sixty thousand pounds. That's how much Tony McNulty claimed in expenses for a house eight miles from the one in which he lives, representing a constituency only eleven miles from Westminster. I'm unsure if the worst thing about this whole situation is that an MP thought he was somehow entitled morally to second home expenses, despite living cycling distance, let alone driving distance, from London.
Astonishingly, McNulty admitted freely that he only stopped claiming expenses because the Labour Party cocked up the economy so much that it wasn't a good financial decision to fleece the taxpayer like he was.
He said he made "considerable" use of the Harrow property and that it allowed him to do his job more effectively - but had stopped claiming the allowance in January because the fall in interest rates meant he could afford to pay the mortgage from his MP's salary.
- From the BBC Report
OK, so not in so many words.
MPs should be entitled to second home expenses only if both their house and their constituency lies more than 60 miles away from Westminster. Otherwise, they can drive and train like the rest of us. I'm pleased to report that there are no Lib Dem MPs claiming expenses in London, even if the Daily Mail does want to imply that in their all-MPs-are-dirty-thieving-bastards campaign. Check the map at the bottom of the linked article. The yellow constituency is Derek Conway, the Conservative MP who cheated tens of thousands of pounds off the taxpayer by paying his son for fake work while he lived at University.
It's fraud, pure and simple. I'm not buying in to the braying mob mentality by claiming that all MP's are in it for the free handouts, and I'm not going to complain and shout that they should be paid no more than £25,000 per year, because that's balderdash.
Our MPs need our confidence, and to do that they need to come down on the few of their colleagues who effectively defraud the taxpayer. The rules on expenses need to be revamped, and there needs to be more openness in the system.
Imagine if there was a party where the leader stuck to his guns and published his expenses, even though he wasn't required to, just because that's what he believes is right. That would be great.
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