General Chat

Waddle over to this site, click on your area of the map.

http://msn.shoothill.com/

Here's mine.

Constituency: Aylesbury
MP: Lidington, Mr David
Party: CON
Expenses
Second Home: £19,470
London Supplement: £0
Office: £11,239
Staffing: £70,833
Stationery: £627
IT Provision: £1,283
Staff Cover: £0
Communication: £5,090
Travel: £4,659

Total Expenses: £115,891

I wanna a second home and lots of money..................can't wait till ours knock on door and asks for votes.....................flea in ear and kick up ass comes to mind.


Helen.

Bargain mine came in at £131,000

Mine has claimed £155, 911 :o(

£22,993 was for his second home

I'm not getting it.

What is insane about this?

Second Home: £19,470
London Supplement: £0
Office: £11,239
Staffing: £70,833
Stationery: £627
IT Provision: £1,283
Staff Cover: £0
Communication: £5,090
Travel: £4,659

MPs have to maintain offices in their constinuencies. Did someone prefer that constituents have to travel to London to meet with their MP?

That's the £11,239, I assume.

MPs have to have staff -- both in London and in their home constituency. Who wants the telephone at a constituency office to be answered by a machine? Who wants to be unable to communicate with their MP unless s/he is at home on a weekend? Who wants their MP to be unable to do the job s/he is paid to do in London, because s/he is too busy answering phones and filing things?

That's what the £70,833 is for.
The MP didn't get that money personally. Really, s/he didn't.
And that's about 60% of total expenses.

Stationery: £627
Paper, pens, file folders, envelopes, paper clips, staples ...
A bargain, I'd say.

IT Provision: £1,283
To maintain/upgrade computer equipment or something?
What else might it have been spent on?

Communication: £5,090
Amazing, that an MP should be in contact with people by long distance telephone. Maybe even have a cell phone. Or two.

And then we have:

Second Home: £19,470

£1645/month for a home in London -- accommodation, utilities ...
From what I hear on the things I watch on BBC Canada, that isn't exactly likely to be palatial digs.

quick google: http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080920153837AAuI1Df
"to rent a one bedroom flat in zone 1 will probably cost you at least £1300 a month. If you wanted to live in some of the more 'desirable' areas like Chelsea or Kensington you'll be paying even more than that."

Maybe MPs are supposed to commute every weekday from their home constituency to London? And then we'd be complaining about the train fare?

Travel: £4,659

They *do* have to commute. Amazingly.


So I'm curious. Just what parts of that total £115,891 are people so horrified by, and what do they suggest should be cut out?

Constituency: Knowsley North and Sefton East
MP: Howarth, Rt Hon George
Party: LAB
Expenses
Second Home: £13,896
London Supplement: £0
Office: £15,094
Staffing: £92,979
Stationery: £679
IT Provision: £1,459
Staff Cover: £0
Communication: £8,634
Travel: £15,380

Total Expenses: £149,809

Constituency: Middlesbrough South and Cleveland East
MP: Kumar, Dr Ashok
Party: LAB
Expenses
Second Home: £23,083
London Supplement: £0
Office: £12,034
Staffing: £90,972
Stationery: £769
IT Provision: £1,109
Staff Cover: £0
Communication: £10,424
Travel: £15,328

Total Expenses: £156,385

And again we see that STAFFING accounts for something in the region of 60% of total expenses claimed ...

Unless the MP is employing his/her spouse, child, sibling-in-law, I can't imagine this being seen as a problem.

And I wonder whether many people moaning about these expenses know that this is the largest chunk of every MP's expense claims.

I would think the " office " is a small bedroom in his 1st home.

Well thats no good, it doesn't even have my constituency on it! Norwich North, Ian Gibson, if anyone can find it....*tsk*


Edit: Found it, it's teeeny tiny lol

Constituency: Norwich North
MP: Gibson, Dr Ian
Party: LAB
Expenses
Second Home: £16,216
London Supplement: £0
Office: £10,754
Staffing: £98,119
Stationery: £796
IT Provision: £1,023
Staff Cover: £0
Communication: £4,095
Travel: £2,967

Total Expenses: £136,241

There ya go

Constituency: Norwich North
MP: Gibson, Dr Ian
Party: LAB
Expenses
Second Home: £16,216
London Supplement: £0
Office: £10,754
Staffing: £98,119
Stationery: £796
IT Provision: £1,023
Staff Cover: £0
Communication: £4,095
Travel: £2,967

Total Expenses: £136,241

Snap. lol

Well I have to pay for food, travel etc out of my salary which is no where near the £67000+ UK MP's get as their basic - I dont think its unreasonable to expect them to pay for some things from that - read the list of trivial things that they have claimed for then wonder again why we Brits are absolutely fuming

Janey, in all the scandal around here, not one person has quibbled about staffing expenses, although in past months mention has been made of oen or two claiming staffing allowance for a son who was not actually working for him, and a wife who ran her own business and didn't work for him.

It is the abuse of the second home mortgage allowance. They are not just claiming a little assistance with a second home, but they are using it to claim the most ridiculous of things. Bear in mind that whatever they claim for should be for their own personal use and relevant to their job.

Bath plug 80p
Barbecue
Mole catching
tampons (a male MP!)
dog food
child's cot
Kit Kat
46 in flatscreen TV
carpets
leather sofas
hanging baskets


Then there are those who have more than bent the rules with their second home allowance.

ie the married couple, both MP's. Living in town A with second home in town B. Mr claims home in town A is second home, Mrs claims home in town B is second home.

The one who was claiming £800 a month and did not question it when it was still going in his bank for 18 months AFTER his mortgage was paid off. He says he didn't know...er hello!

Or the one who used his second home allowance to re-furbish his 'second home' then quickly switched the listed second home and sold the refurbished one for £300,000.

Remember, it's tax payers money. If anyone else had fiddled their claims in that way they woudl be accountable to their bosses at best and to the courts at worst.

Remember the MP's husband who 'accidently' billed the taxpayer for his cable porn films - hmmm then people wonder why get miffed

Janey, take a look at this...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/mps-expenses/5318810/MPs-expenses-20-most-bizarre-claims.html

"I would think the " office " is a small bedroom in his 1st home."

I would think you think wrong, McB. I might also have thought you'd bother to find out, but I guess not.

Here's me, defending a Tory. Or a principle.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/mpdb/html/21.stm

Constituency address:
100 Walton Street, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire , HP21 7QP

Looks rather like a large commercial buiding, on Google maps satellite view, to me.

Hi B,

Im going to have a look but may need a bucket, what do they know of ordinary people, with mortgages, businesses, tiny pay rises and bills..........nowt!!!

Caz xxx

Bath plug 80p
Barbecue
Mole catching
tampons (a male MP!)
dog food
child's cot
Kit Kat
46 in flatscreen TV
carpets
leather sofas
hanging baskets


Perhaps the MP should have been restricted to taking showers, and having no plug for the bath.

The child should have slept on the floor? Or the MP should have had to pay for a cot in both locations, or never had family with him/her in London?

MPs should have to tolerate moles? I assume moles do destructive things; we don't have 'em.

MPs should live in uncarpeted unfurnished cold-water walk-ups with no plants, I guess.

MPs never need to host events in their homes for visitors from the home constituency, from abroad. One of those Japanese-style stacked sleeping cells should do them fine.


I have no doubt that some MPs have overclaimed and claimed unjustified expenses. But honestly. Someone really thinks MPs should not have plugs for their bathtubs?