Michael Dean : Weblog items tagged with expense

why is there such a public outrage against MPs?

Sun, 31 May 2009 12:57:24 GMT

I don't understand why this 'public outrage' against all MPs is being so hyped up! Why on earth should MPs be called to account for not saving the country money? We would save a lot of money if we paid them 'minimum wage' rates but no one would think that was sensible! MPs who cheat should obviously be called to account. But MPs who claim within the rules are not doing anything wrong., even though we may think that the system needs changing. Perhaps it is because so many people in the UK have been hurt and are suffering because of the damage that this government has done to the UK and to them over the last 12 years. There has been a definite divide between the rich, who are getting richer, and the poor, who are getting poorer! The recession, affecting the UK more than most of the rest of the world, has made life for many people, mainly those who are less well off, worse still! So is this just a reaction against the government and the politicians (a plague on all their houses)?

MPs - the 'hidden' payments system

Fri, 22 May 2009 18:00:38 GMT

It is becoming a bit more clear on what is perceived to have gone wrong with MP's expenses.

Since 2005 (i think) there has been a deliberate system in place as part of the MP's remuneration.

The first thing is to seperate the 'official' expenses system where MPs can claim back their genuine expenses. Apart from possible questions about what constitutes 'genuine' expenses, this is all open and above board. Of course the administration of this process has to be correctly done, but if they accept an invoice as valid then that is down to them and not the MP.

The real problem stems from an attempt by the government to increase the MP's salary. They apparantly felt that they couldn't do it by just increasing the salaries because the public would object. Instead, they thought that they would do it be stealth.

So the (un)official system was to set up a bucket of money for each MP and then encourage them to claim from this bucket. This was not for official expenses. It was just a way to pay MPs more. They didn't even have to submit a receipt for amounts under £250 but some did.

The whole object of this exercise was to pay the MPs more money. Of course those submitted receipts included many items which were not justifiable expenses. But they didn't have to be justifiable expenses! This bucket contained additional income and MPs are entitled to spend their income as they wanted to!

What a lousy system that government set up! They should simply have paid the MPs more money, if that is what they wanted to do, and avoided all this fuss.

This deceitful approach raises questions about sidestepping taxable pay. Does this method of improving MPs salaries involve an elementof tax avoidance?

It also raises questions about this government being prepared to deceive the general public about the level of MPs salaries!

The REAL problem with MP's Expenses

Thu, 14 May 2009 17:43:46 GMT

The politicall fallout of the 'greedy' MPs continues.
It has clearly done damage to politics generally within the UK. In my view the Telegraph has done democracy no favours by revealing the expenses scandal at this time, and by the way that they have presented the information.

If we have too many people simply not voting next month then we may end up with long term damage to the UK by allowing extremists and other single issue people into power.

With the exception of any actual frauds that may be discovered, it should be remembered that the vast majority of MPs are only claiming what is allowed by the system in place. The vast majority of MPs are having all of their expense claims checked, approved and signed off by the officials running the expenses system.

Why is their such an emphasis on the monkeys (sorry about this analogy ) when the problem is with the organ grinder!

Those running the system are at fault. They have defined what is acceptable to be claimed for, and what is not allowed. It was the responsibility of the MPS to ensure that they were operating within the system.

How many of us in the real world would actually turn down valid expenses incurred whilst doing our work? I suspect that there would be a lot of fuss if the employer said that they thought that the rules were too generous and that they would only refund a percentage of valid expense claims.

Party leader response to the MPs expense scandal

Tue, 12 May 2009 17:31:14 GMT

Harriet Harmon goes on Radio 5 and says that the Labour MPs expenses will be looked at and if they have broken the rules then the expenses will have to be paid back.

David Cameron speaks to his MPs. He tells them that unreasonable expenses will be paid back, even if they have not broken any rules.
Cameron also lists certain payments that were going to be repaid immediately regardless of whether or not they broke the rules. He has also established a committe to check all Conservative MPs expenses before they are submitted.

Which party leader is taking decisive action over this issue!