Someone, might have been Rob or Scott I don't know, suggested in another thread that there should be a uni style halls of residence type thing for mp's so they can stay in London when necessary, I think that system would be good as at the moment they all with a handful of exceptions have their snouts deep in the trough and are grabbing what they can

 

That was me actually.... :lol: And I totally stand by it.... This system would effectively do away with the second home allowance.....

 

Most MPs need a second home. Yes, the system needs to be changed and it may be that there should be state-owned accommodation available for MPs. Alternatively, as suggested by Nick Clegg, second homes should be rented rather than bought by MPs.

 

Which is the system I personally would favour.... As it stands, it's way to open to abuse, and MPs are blatantly profiting from it.... Building state-owned accommodation or giving MPs money for renting a flat in London, would do away with any possibility of abuses to the Second Home system.....

 

Nick Clegg has the right idea (and it does seem that the vast majority of all the sensible ideas and policies are indeed coming from the Lib Dems these days doesn't it...? :rolleyes: ), but just needs a little nudge in the direction of MPs "Halls of Residence".....

 

Which is the system I personally would favour.... As it stands, it's way to open to abuse, and MPs are blatantly profiting from it.... Building state-owned accommodation or giving MPs money for renting a flat in London, would do away with any possibility of abuses to the Second Home system.....

 

Nick Clegg has the right idea (and it does seem that the vast majority of all the sensible ideas and policies are indeed coming from the Lib Dems these days doesn't it...? :rolleyes: ), but just needs a little nudge in the direction of MPs "Halls of Residence".....

The advantage of MPs renting accommodation is that it will retain flexibility over which home counts as a second home. An MP who lives in or near London when they are first elected may wish to desigante their constituency home as their second home, particularly if they have a family.

 

In addition, a halls of residence type arrangement would mean MPs spending even less time in the company of us mere mortals. They would be mixing almost exclusively with fellow MPs outside their working hours as well as in the daytime. Is that really what we want?

In addition, a halls of residence type arrangement would mean MPs spending even less time in the company of us mere mortals. They would be mixing almost exclusively with fellow MPs outside their working hours as well as in the daytime. Is that really what we want?

 

Do they actually really "mix" with any of us mere mortals anyway mate.....? :rolleyes: I dont really see that as a reason to discount the idea of a Halls of Residence..... Anything that stops these dodgy buggers creaming off the taxpayer has got to be a good thing in the long-run.....

 

 

 

And, here are more Westminster Piggies......

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fresh MP expense claims published

Source, BBC News, 9th May

 

 

Reports are being published in the Telegraph over several days

 

A new batch of leaked details on MPs' expenses claims have been published.

 

Those featured by the Daily Telegraph include tourism minister Barbara Follett, who claimed more than £25,000 for security patrols at her home.

 

She and others named, such as Labour minister Phil Hope and Tory MP Greg Barker, say they have not broken rules.

 

Immigration minister Phil Woolas has threatened legal action over "disgusting" allegations he claimed for women's clothing, nappies and comics.

 

Health minister Ben Bradshaw - Exeter MP and minister for the South West - has also said claims made about his expenses in Saturday's paper were factually wrong.

 

The Telegraph's latest story comes a day after the paper published details of 13 Cabinet ministers' expenses. It plans to publish further revelations about MPs from other parties in the coming days.

 

The Commons authorities have complained to the Metropolitan Police, who confirmed they were considering a request for an investigation into the leak to the paper.

 

The Telegraph also has details of the expenses of Keith Vaz, a former minister who now chairs the home affairs select committee.

 

Mr Vaz reportedly claimed £75,000 for a Westminster flat although his family's home is 12 miles away in Stanmore.

 

He said that he had acted within the rules. He added that his designated home was in his Leicester constituency, the Westminster flat was his second home, and he made no claims for the home in Stanmore where his family lives.

 

Backbench Labour MP Margaret Moran also came under scrutiny on Saturday.

 

She has yet to comment on reports she apparently spent £22,500 on treating dry rot at the coastal property she had designated as her second home - which is not in London and is 100 miles from her Luton constituency.

 

A spokesman for Ms Moran said she would speak exclusively to the BBC's Politics Show East on Sunday, adding: "Ms Moran is concerned about elements of the story and is seeking legal advice to whether or not this is actionable."

 

And the first prominent Conservative MP has been named by the paper. Shadow climate change minister Greg Barker has denied he made a profit on the sale of a house by "working the expenses system".

 

He said the Telegraph story did not make clear "that there was a very substantial six-figure sum of my own money involved, that wasn't claimed for".

 

"It would be completely inaccurate and untrue for the Telegraph to allege that the difference in purchase and sale price represented a profit."

 

'Disgusting' reporting

 

Labour minister Barbara Follett claimed more than £25,000 for security at her home, but she said this met Commons rules and gave no further comment.

 

Mrs Follett's total bill for security patrols between 2004 and 2008 - which started after she was mugged - was £25,411.64, the paper said.

 

The question you have to ask is who devised the system? MPs devised the system under their self-regulating arrangements

 

 

 

Sir Alistair Graham, ex-chairman, committee for standards in public life

The wife of author Ken Follett and one of Parliament's richest MPs, she also claimed £528.75 for a Chinese needlepoint rug to be repaired and cleaned, but was only paid back £300 after it was deemed excessive, the Telegraph said.

 

She told the newspaper: "As all of [my claims], bar one, have been accepted and cleared by the House of Commons Fees Office under the rules laid out in the Green Book, I have no further comment to make on them."

 

She said the item not accepted was claimed in error and was one of the two occasions in the last 12 years her expenses claims had been queried.

 

Meanwhile Mr Woolas called the Telegraph's reporting "absolutely disgusting" and said he believed the newspaper's claims might be "actionable" and he was seeking legal advice.

 

 

Woolas: Items on receipts not claimed

The minister claims nappies and women's clothing were listed on a receipt for food which he submitted, but he did not receive any money for them.

 

Saturday's 11-page report also said care services minister Phil Hope had spent more than £37,000 over about four years on refurbishing and furnishing a two-bedroom south London flat.

 

Mr Hope said: "I claimed the cost of running and furnishing a flat in London, in full accordance with the rules that apply to members of Parliament.

 

"The purchases I made were no more than was necessary to live in a habitable residence and replacements only occurred when furniture and fittings were worn out. These items were then disposed of.

 

"I have not personally benefited from this process."

 

Full details of all MPs' expenses dating back four years, running to 2.4 million receipts, were due to be published in the middle of July after the Commons authorities lost a Freedom of Information battle.

 

But instead, the Telegraph is revealing the information early.

 

BBC political correspondent Ben Wright said: "MPs from other parties are going to be drawn into this, backbenchers too. There is a feeling that that is where some of the real, shocking horror stories of claims may then come to light, on the back benches."

 

 

Once again the gap between the reactions of politicians and the public has been stark

 

 

Liberal Democrat MP Norman Baker has called for the official release of the information to be brought forward, to avoid the "drip drip effect" of the Daily Telegraph story.

 

However, his fellow Lib Dem MP Nick Harvey, a member of the House of Commons Commission, which is responsible for publishing the data, said it would be premature to release it while officials were still "getting it into a form where the public can make some sense out of it".

 

Former chairman of the committee for standards in public life, Sir Alistair Graham, said the expenses system had to be decided in the public and taxpayers' interest, by an independent outside body.

 

"It is depressing to keep hearing [MPs] saying 'well, it's the system that was wrong and we are changing the system'.

 

"The question you have to ask is who devised the system? MPs devised the system under their self-regulating arrangements and that's what must change for the future."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

KEITH VAZ, you 'orrible, shameless little MAGGOT.......... :angry: :angry: :angry: You claim 75k for a bloody house in Westminster and your family home is in Stanmore......

 

Stanmore is in bloody ZONE FOUR you c/unt...... GET A BLOODY TUBE PASS LIKE EVERY OTHER COMMUTER, Stanore is on the JUBILEE LINE, like WESTMINSTER is, you dont even need to change tubes you little arsehole....... <_< <_< WTF....????? <_<

 

 

 

 

 

Doesn't Keith Vaz like his family?

Doesn't Keith Vaz like his family?

 

Hmmm, they probably dont like him.... :lol: :lol:

 

Seriously though, this is un-frickin'-believable...... Stanmore aint even as far out of the centre of London as Kingston is, and Kingston's more awkward to get back to in terms of public transport, as opposed to ONE TUBE journey from Stanmore to Westminster and vice versa.... But the Lib Dem MP for Kingston aint claiming any second home expenses for living there......

 

Seems pretty clear to me that Nu Labor MPs are the worst shower of the lot for these "expense" claims...... I'd rather pay for an annual zone 1-4 travel card for Mr Vaz than bloody 75k for his supposedly "necessary" flat in sodding Westminster.......

Scorched earth policy I reckon

 

Labour know that they are out in a years time and probably for a generation too so they are grabbing what they can while they can and also leaving the economy in as deep a $h!t as possible for "Dave" to sort out

 

What Labour are doing to the economy and to parliamentary morals reminds me of Saddam Hussein setting fire to all the kuwaiti oil wells when he was forced out of Kuwait

Edited May 9, 200916 yr by B.A Baracus

This is really despicable. Something I'm finding even more insulting than the expenses claims themselves are these MPs' defences... they're all saying they're "within the rules" and that it's the fault of "the system". No-one's denying that the vast majority of these controversial claims are technically within the rules, but they're quite clearly completely against the spirit of the rules. And just because the system allows them to claim so much, why does that mean they have to? :rolleyes: Ridiculous.

 

I also have to say I'm really pissed at how the the Telegraph is handling this story - where are the controversial expenses claims from Tory MPs? It's disgraceful that a supposedly credible broadsheet is trying to so blatantly manipulate public opinion.

Scorched earth policy I reckon

 

Labour know that they are out in a years time and probably for a generation too so they are grabbing what they can while they can and also leaving the economy in as deep a $h!t as possible for "Dave" to sort out

Will you still be saying that after we've heard about Tory MPs' expense claims?

Will you still be saying that after we've heard about Tory MPs' expense claims?

 

Agreed...

 

Craig, dont pretend the bloody Tories are any better.... What about Rt Hon Tory fat b'astard from Welwyn.....? His justifications for his expenses on Question Time were just as lame as Vaz, Smith or any of the Nu Labor lot.....

 

I repeat, the ONLY way to end this sh!t and get a better system of Govt in this country is a Hung Parliament/Coalition govt or a Lib Dem victory.....

 

Will you still be saying that after we've heard about Tory MPs' expense claims?

 

We are not perfect by any means but I would imagine Labour's ones are way worse

 

And it is worse for Labour because Tory culture is based on greed whereas Labour is supposed to be the champion of the poor and the working class and stand for an equal society but here are people who are supposed to believe in that doing stuff that would make Gordon Gekko blush

Edited May 9, 200916 yr by B.A Baracus

Tory culture is based on greed whereas Labour is supposed to be the champion of the poor and the working class and stand for an equal society but here as people who are supposed to believe in that doing stuff that would make Gordon Gekko blush

 

Yep, 100% agree there......

 

And, the rest is on the mark as well.... Nu Labor are despicable, amoral hypocrites of the absolute worst order..... Worse than Thatcher ever was.... At least you knew Thatcher was a tyrant, whereas Nu Labor made out that "things can only get better"...... :rolleyes: What a fukkin' JOKE that turned out to be....... -_-

 

No-one's denying that the vast majority of these controversial claims are technically within the rules, but they're quite clearly completely against the spirit of the rules.

 

Not to mention them being against the spirit of public decency and morality when we're living in the worst recession in over 60 bloody years...... <_<

 

We are not perfect by any means but I would imagine Labour's ones are way worse

 

And it is worse for Labour because Tory culture is based on greed whereas Labour is supposed to be the champion of the poor and the working class and stand for an equal society but here are people who are supposed to believe in that doing stuff that would make Gordon Gekko blush

I susoect you'll be disappointed. After all, the people who abuse the system the most often turn out to be those who were alresady very wealthy. Look at Barbara Follett for an example. There are rather more very wealthy people on the Tory benches than there are on the Labour benches.

This is just classic.....

--------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Expenses system 'wrong' - Blears

Source - BBC News, 10 May

 

It has been revealed Ms Blears claimed for expenses on three homes in a year

 

Cabinet minister Hazel Blears says she understands why people "hate" MPs' expenses amid questions over the sale of a London flat.

 

She told the Commons it was her second home - on which she claimed expenses.

 

But when she sold it she did not pay 40% capital gains tax due on properties not classified as a "main residence".

 

She said she had not broken any rules but said the system was "wrong". A new audit body for MPs' expenses is due to be ratified on Monday.

 

Labour MP Sir Stuart Bell told the BBC: "Tomorrow when the House comes back there will be a certain contrition that we have lost the confidence of the public and we need to get that back."

 

He said a new independent audit had already been agreed and would be ratified on Monday but they would go "one step further" and set up an independent body to validate MPs expenses which he hoped would eventually be "hived off" to the private sector.

 

Ms Blears' claims were published in the Sunday Telegraph - as the newspaper group continues its revelations of claims made by MPs under their controversial second home allowance.

 

Moles removed

 

It has concentrated on claims by Labour ministers so far - although it also reports that the Conservative former minister John Gummer claimed public money to have moles removed from his country estate.

 

It also reports that Sinn Fein MPs, who do not attend Parliament, claimed nearly £500,000 in second home expenses.

 

I understand entirely why the public hates this. The system is wrong.

 

Hazel Blears

 

The newspaper has already reported that Ms Blears changed the property she designated as her "second home" twice in a year - between a home in her Salford constituency and two London flats.

 

On Sunday, the newspaper reported she had claimed a flat in south London was her "second home" - for which she could claim expenses - and claimed £850 a month towards mortgage payments.

 

But when she sold it for a £45,000 profit four months later, she did not pay the 40% capital gains tax charged on the sale of second homes. A spokesman said there was "no liability" for capital gains tax from the sale.

 

Ms Blears has denied any wrongdoing and said she complied with the rules. But questioned outside her Salford home on Sunday, she added: "I understand entirely why the public hates this, right. The system is wrong. It needs to be changed."

 

Conservative defence spokesman Liam Fox told the BBC ministers used to have to claim their main home was in London - but that had been changed under Labour. "It seems to me there has to be hard and fast rules about what is your primary home," he said.

 

The public think the rules are wrong and ... go way beyond the legitimate needs of people who have to be in London to represent their constituents

 

He said he was not concerned about Conservative expenses claims - due to be published next week - and MPs would have to answer for themselves.

 

"The trouble is that politicians have tended to say 'well, we are only acting within the rules'," he said.

 

"But the public think the rules are wrong and ... go way beyond the legitimate needs of people who have to be in London to represent their constituents."

 

The Sunday Telegraph reports that five Sinn Fein MPs have claimed a total of almost £500,000 in second home expenses - despite the party not taking up its Commons seats.

 

'Do not profit'

 

A Sinn Fein spokesman denied that the MPs, including president Gerry Adams and Northern Ireland deputy first minister Martin McGuinness, had done anything wrong.

 

"It is widely known that Sinn Fein MPs travel regularly to London on parliamentary business and utilise the accommodation that we rent when there," he said.

 

"We do not purchase properties at public expense and therefore do not profit from the expenses claimed as of right."

 

Mr Brown says the expenses system does not work and must be changed

 

Other MPs' claims revealed in the Sunday Telegraph include former PM Tony Blair, former Transport Secretary Stephen Byers, former Home Secretary John Reid and junior ministers Kevin Brennan and Kitty Ussher.

 

Work and pensions minister Ms Ussher reportedly received more than £22,000 over a 12-month period towards improvements to her home and asked whether she could claim to have "Artex coverings" removed from the ceiling.

 

A spokesman said the claims had been in line with Commons rules and approved by the fees office and Ms Ussher supported the independent inquiry into "creating a better system for MPs' expenses", due to report back by the end of the year.

 

The Sunday Telegraph has clarified an earlier report about a £6,577 claim made by Gordon Brown to reimburse his brother for payments to a shared cleaner - saying there was no suggestion "of any impropriety".

 

Full details of all MPs' claims were due to be published in July after a Freedom of Information battle - but the Telegraph has revealed the information early. The Commons has asked police to investigate the leak .

 

Meanwhile a survey of 2,246 people, by BPIX for the Mail on Sunday, suggests Labour's ratings have slumped to just 23% - lower than when Michael Foot was party leader in the 1980s.

 

A YouGov poll of 2,209 voters for the Sunday Times suggested Labour's support had dropped by seven percentage points to 27% - 16 points behind the Conservatives.

 

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband told the BBC having a bad week was "part of being in politics" and said Gordon Brown was the right man to lead Labour through the next general election.

 

But he said the focus on expenses was "profoundly depressing" and said the system had to change.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Yeah Hazel, you think it's so "wrong", but it doesn't exactly stop you from exploiting it to the full extent does it.....? :rolleyes: If the system is "wrong" now, according to Ms Blears, then it was "wrong" 12 years ago when bloody Nu Labor took power...... <_<

 

Seems to me that it's only considered "wrong" now by any of these people because finally the full truth has been outed, and now the public know what a bunch of fat little piggies these MPs actually are.....

 

The Speaker's scapegoat: Official who signed off MPs' expenses didn't even have accountancy qualification

 

The row over MPs' expenses has intensified after it was revealed the parliamentary finance chief who signs off their claims had no formal accountancy skills - and that he feared he would be sacked when he warned the Commons Speaker the system was being abused.

 

Andrew Walker, who runs the Commons Fees Office responsible for MPs' wages and expenses, told Speaker Michael Martin more than five years ago that he must act to curb excessive claims.

 

But Westminster sources say the Speaker told him not to meddle, and 'punished' him by refusing to speak to him for weeks at a time.

 

It is understood that Mr Walker felt he could be dismissed from his £125,000-a-year job as director general of resources at the Commons after issuing the warning.

 

Now friends say he has been made a 'scapegoat' by MPs who have justified scandalous expense claims on the grounds that Mr Walker approved them.

 

Astonishingly, Mr Walker was put in charge of MPs' expenses even though he was not qualified to hold the post.

 

He was sent to college to take a £15,000 course in business studies, at taxpayers' expense, while in his job.

 

Lifelong civil servant Mr Walker became finance and administration director at the Commons in 1997 after a low-profile role as assistant director of human resources at the Inland Revenue.

 

But his degree in Ancient Near Eastern Studies from Birmingham University was of little use when faced with the complex financial matters of the Commons Fees Office. :wacko:

 

One source said: 'Andrew did his best to keep control of things but it was an impossible job, and he was not really equipped to do it. He knew there were things going on that shouldn't be and drew them to the Speaker's attention.

 

'The Speaker didn't want to know. His own expenses were coming under scrutiny and the last thing he wanted to do was draw attention to the issue. Andrew was told to keep his nose out and to turn a Nelsonian blind eye.

 

'The Speaker would go for ages without speaking to him, his way of "punishing" Andrew. It was a disgrace. Now MPs are blaming him for the trouble they are in by saying he approved their expenses. He has every right to be angry.'

 

Another source said: 'A while back it looked as if Andrew might lose his job and you can't blame him for thinking that he might as well keep his head down. Why should he sacrifice his career for the sake of others?'

 

Mr Walker's return to favour with the Speaker coincided with Mr Martin's surprise choice of Dr Jack - who is also a successful writer who spends much of the parliamentary breaks at his homes in Portugal and South Africa - as Commons clerk and chief executive.

 

The Speaker ordered a shake-up after Serjeant-At-Arms Peter Grant Peterkin was effectively sacked in 2007 for querying Mr Martin's expenses.

 

In the reorganisation, Dr Jack and Mr Walker - who was promoted to his current job - were given more power over staff as well as MPs' pay and expenses. Critics said the Speaker had surrounded himself with cronies.

 

Instead of selecting someone with a financial background, the Speaker gave Mr Walker the go-ahead to study for a Master of Business Administration degree at Warwick University, approving the £5,000-a-year fees and granting him time off from the Commons for his studies.

 

Mr Walker, who is 55 and married with three children, lives in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire. He was unavailable for comment, while the Speaker's office declined to comment.

 

It is believed the Tories may be the target next week as more damaging expense claims are dripped out to the public.

 

Former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey today warned a 'culture of abuse' had in Westminster expenses, and declared MPs only had themselves to blame.

 

'The moral authority of Parliament is at its lowest ebb in living memory,' the cross-bench peer said.

 

'Already our MPs are seeking a scapegoat. The first reaction was to shoot the messenger, blaming so-called chequebook journalism. Yet they've only themselves to blame.

 

'The latest revelations show it was not just a few MPs with their noses in the trough, but a culture of abuse. While their constituents are suffering from the credit crunch and many are out of work, they've had access to unrivalled funds.'

 

He added: 'To me, what's most worrying about this sad, sordid and scandalous affair is that it reveals an ambiguity among our politicians in their attitudes to public service.

 

Source: Mail on Sunday

 

Unbelievable, only MP's could put the person in charge of checking all claims for expenses with no Financial Qualifications, I mean what is a qualification in "Ancient Near Eastern Studies".

 

It looks like these MP's select which home is their 2nd home, splash the cash to upgrade it, then they can say their other home is their 2nd home and do the same again. Plus if they sell the first house and call it their main home they can avoid Capital Gains Tax. What a nice little earner that is. These bast*rds can't even see why ordinary Joe Public is angry, they are so out of touch with reality. I bet not one of them will resign, under any circumstances so it will be up to the voters to vote out the worse offenders from any party.

Commons boss who called in police has four homes in three countries, including grace and favour mansion

 

The Commons official who called in the police over the leak of MPs' expenses splits his time between four homes in three countries worth an estimated £4.5million.

 

Dr Malcolm Jack, the Clerk of the Commons - its chief executive - contacted Scotland Yard on Friday to say he believed there were 'reasonable grounds' to suspect criminal behaviour over the disclosures.

 

As the most senior figure in the House, it is Dr Jack's job to ensure that MPs spend taxpayers' money responsibly.

 

Yet despite this onerous duty, Dr Jack, a close ally of Speaker Michael Martin, finds time to fly around the globe visiting his properties and has a second job as an author. His publisher even describes him as 'living in Portugal'.

 

When 62-year-old Dr Jack became Clerk in 2006 he moved into 3 Parliament Street, a plum grace-and-favour home opposite the Commons worth £2.8million. In the same year, the Westminster authorities spent £100,000 on a lavish redecoration of the property, adding sparkling new features which included a £39,000 kitchen, bespoke furniture, a butler's tray, flat-screen television and two ionic columns costing £963.

 

See whole article here : http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/news/article...ur-mansion.html

 

So not only are the MP's up to their necks in it, but the head civil servant whose job is to oversee things just as tarnished by the whole affair. What a hypocrite to call in the Police to investigate who leaked the details to the Telegraph(only weeks before they were due to be published anyway), he should be calling in the Police to investigate the fraud carried out by our MP's.

^ The above two articles are just a disgrace..... This issue is becoming worse and worse by the day it would seem....

 

As to the first one, I think they deliberately hired this bloke knowing he was unqualified so they could just pick a scapegoat and pin all the blame on him, either that or they probably thought he wouldn't make any waves.... As unqualified as he is, I find it quite astonishing that even he knew what was going on was dodgy... -_-

 

I think that now, surely the Police have to become involved (they certainly wasted no time in ransacking Damien Green's office over the "Leakgate" affair, oh, but of course, that was all initiated and approved by the Home Office wasn't it...?) and there should be Serious Fraud Office investigation.... Not exactly holding my breath though, the Old Boys' Network looks after its own, and the Police never seem to exactly spring into action where they're not wanted do they....?

lol.. today its the tories who are being exposed.....

 

and we go on about benefits cheats!