General Chat

I think you;d have to live here to know and understand just how morally depressing it is and has been for a long long time well before this leak......

Its been a closed door and until the now gone Speaker under duress gave saction for Freedom of Information we would still be none the wiser......

People have lost jobs by the thousand,facing eviction weekly,cant provide basics for their families,debts mounting round their ears from utility to other bills,,,,,

We Brits have every right to feel anger,that an MP can scam,cheat and lie at taxpayers expense....

MPs do not spend every week day in Westminster.some work at their office which can be the spare room at their 1st home,sec duties can be done by the wife.son.daughter !

Sheila and SRS - that's the extremely important point.

If expenses are not covered, only the Tories * ahem, I mean idle rich * will be able to afford to stand for office. Just as it used to be.

That's not to say that expenses should not be overseen and regulated.

It does mean that making huge points out of people buying bath plugs and other basic household items out of their expense allowance is just plain silly.

Granting an allowance for accommodations in the capital and letting them do what they will with it seems to make most sense. An allowance that covers reasonable expenses. Then if they want to spend it on several gross of bath plugs a week, or on cleaning the moat, they'll just have to spend their salaries on the rent.

Janey, talking of MPs sharing houses.....there was the case of an MP claiming for a mortgage on his second house, meanwhile he rented a room out to a fellow MP and that MP claimed expenses for the rent.....

.......and then there was the husband and wife MPs. The wife claimed expenses for one house (as the second home) whilst the husband claimed expenses on the other house (as the second home).

what annoys me is that they have access to this kind of money .......spent well or not !!!!!

But my son comes home from a school where they have to share books to look things up!!!!!!

share it out more fairly

I have voted at every election since I have been eligible and always moaned at people who didn't and now I think I finally have reached apathy. We have a European election on 4th June and I don't think I can be arsed to turn out

Well, if refuse collectors (and lorry drivers) are to be the standard for what ought to be paid -- how about somebody take a close look at what Rupert Murdoch gets paid, on a value-for-money basis?

What, you think you aren't paying his salary?

Anybody remember Conrad Black? Lord Tubby of Fleet. Oh, sorry. Lord Black of Crossharbour, to you.

You paid his salary more than one way. Buy his media products ... and pay for his valuable contribution to the House of Lords ...

If I do a search, will I find shrieks of outrage here at GR about his doings?

He's in prison now, you know. Of course, he only diddled his shareholders.

Constituency: Newbury
MP: Benyon, Mr Richard
Party: CON
Expenses
Second Home: £0
London Supplement: £0
Office: £15,501
Staffing: £75,566
Stationery: £1,189
IT Provision: £1,269
Staff Cover: £0
Communication: £6,106
Travel: £2,472

Total Expenses: £105,728


We live 60 miles from London and ours dont claim a second home allowance !! so why do they who live nearer!!

67K is not a set income for all MPs ...!!!some are higher graded.....very many are in the 100K+bracket and still made false claims.!

Actually Uggers....very good point.....you really shouldn't get me started on the subject of why we need politicians. I think I'm very slowly turning into an anarchist.

We need people to collect our bins, clean our streets, educate our children, nurse us, defend us etc etc. We obviously need people to organise employing these people and pay them.

How many people do we actually need to run the country and represent us? and are they representing us or their own interests?

Sometimes I feel that they are telling us what to do rather than them following our wishes ie Iraq war, poll tax, etc etc

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8058526.stm

Mortgage interest and rent claims will be capped at £1,250 per month under interim reforms to MPs' expenses, Speaker Michael Martin has said.

He said all parties had agreed on an immediate ban on second homes claims for furniture, cleaning and stamp duty.

Additionally, MPs will not be allowed to "flip" the designation of their second home during 2009/10.

The statement came after Mr Martin said he would step down amid pressure over his handling of the expenses issue.

Janey, I didn't say binmens wages were the standard for what ought to be paid. But I bet they still earn a lot less than 67 grand a year. Whether a refuse collector or an MP is more necessary is debatable but 67k pa is a good income.

Vote for Uggers at the next election!!!

I bet you'd get quite a few votes ;-)

Lol SRS, I couldn't stand. I've led too interesting a life for our media and Daily Mail reading public;))

But MM

Very little has changed for them really with the new ruling.

just a cap on mortgage interest and no furniture claim for second homes....everything else stays just the same! woweeeee big deals there then.....

Perhaps MPs should be selected, as per jury service.

I am of the opinion that most of those who WANT to be an MP are precisely those who shouldn't be, lol!

Do boring MPs make the best politicians then Uggers?

It's funny, you can tell those MPs that have real convictions and strangely enough they were the some of the people who claimed the least in expenses.

Not my MP but was interested what Dennis was claiming, seems to be one of the lowest.

Constituency: Bolsover
MP: Skinner, Mr Dennis
Party: LAB
Expenses
Second Home: £11,323
London Supplement: £0
Office: £1,039
Staffing: £45,522
Stationery: £306
IT Provision: £1,226
Staff Cover: £0
Communication: £0
Travel: £6,412

Total Expenses: £66,933

Well done Den, im sure you would have some choice words to say on the rest of them, of whatever party

Here is my MP's expenses:

Constituency: Sussex Mid
MP: Soames, Hon Nicholas
Party: CON
Expenses
Second Home: £21,869
London Supplement: £0
Office: £19,322
Staffing: £89,677
Stationery: £527
IT Provision: £1,376
Staff Cover: £0
Communication: £11,815
Travel: £1,992

Total Expenses: £148,424

George, his travel costs do appear low. However, it may depend on how far his constituency is from parliament. Those that represent people in Scotland and the North will probably have higher costs if they are to represent their constituents in Parliament effectively.