MP's Expenses
 

Isn't it time some changes are made.

MP's in the top government jobs IE PM, Chancellor etc are provided with a house at the taxpayers expense. As thing stand they can declare that as there main residence and claim "large" expenses for there own home which are usually in or near their constituencies.

I think they should set the example and stop claiming these expenses, the salary that comes with their positions will more than cover any expenses they have

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Isnt their salary only £50k? Granted they have a final salary pension which is amazing but thats not much for that kind of job.

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errr there's many in this country who struggle to get anything like £20k without expenses or a gold plated pension.

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You need to attract good people to these jobs. In order to do that you have give decent salaries. The cost of living in London is higher than the rest of the country...

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errrr yeah but they aint MP's.

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It's not like being a MP is an easy job to bag. First of all, there are not that many seats in the commons. You need to work in local politics long enough to be able to be selected to stand for your local seat, then it needs to be a seat which you stand a chance of winning, then you need to go on a election campaign. If a lot of people vote for you, you get a job for 4 years but that could well go.

There are not many safe seats and the people who stand for them are usually people who worked for the main party for a while. Most MPs are at a real risk of losing their job every 4 years.

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And how does that make a difference?Especially now that we are able to scrutinise their expenses and grace and favour housing etc.If the job was that poorly paid we would have a hard job finding anyone who would do it.However I've NEVER seen any problem getting people to stand as MP's.
How many have other jobs as a sideline and are silent directors in industry and retail?It's not like most are just picking up the £50k and that's it.Many are doing very well indeed and when they retire will be fairly well off.

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Except in the modern go-ahead egalitarian Conservative Party, where possession of the right accent, ancestors and friends can still get you on the list.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zac_Goldsmith

Naturally there are plenty of examples of similar stuff on the Labour side, but what it means is that the old idea that you worked your way up has largely been replaced by the idea of demonstrating loyalty via networking with people who know. I'm not certain this is an improvement.

My MP (Ann Keen) has been fingered for putting her husband (also an MP) on a life insurance policy and charging us for the premiums. Nice. She also claims a London flat allowance despite representing a constituency half an hour and 9 miles away.

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The pay must be good, I've never seen MP's go on strike. ;)

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Not seen too many Sinn Fein MPs around Westminster, though, have we? Not that it's particularly concerned with pay, but they have technically been on strike* since the first one was elected.

* well, refusing to accept particular working conditions, at least.

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only??? is a very decent salary which millions would jump at getting, its good even for london.

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Some might say "So where are these good people then?"

How about a basic salary, plus a bonus based on performance? For every £100 they save the taxpayer, the MP gets to keep half.

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at which point they get a £70k parachute to help break their fall.

whereas if you or I where made redundant we would be entiled to just 1 x your weeks pay for each year worked (limited to a max of £330p/w) LINK
well actually I'd be entiled to 1.5 weeks

Spot the difference there ...

Same deal with their pensions.

Put them on the same schemes as the average joe - and then watch those schemes improve for all

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So does that allows them to use public money to pay there bills like the TV licence, Gas bills, Taxis for shopping etc etc etc ?


Maybe we need a new set of Mp's on a new contract where they cannot rip us of ALL the time. :LOL:

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The MPs allowance system needs to be radically reformed as at present all it does is rip off the nation.

There's no need for each MP to have a second home in London. All you need is a large 3-star hotel in London that is exclusively reserved for and used by provincial MPs when required in Parliament.

Neither does each MP need her/his individual team of staff.There could be a general pool of admin staff for backbenchers and a separate pool of staff used exclusively by ministers. The staff would all be civil servants covered by the Official Secrets Act and accountable to the public.

In this way costs are reduced; there are no accusations of nepotism;all transactions can be monitored by the National Audit Office and all monies can be accounted for.

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Also who else can decide their own salary's in the UK?

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Has anyone seen these documents? The hand writing is appalling.

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bank robbers

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Both silly ideas..

MP's dont pop to london for the odd day here and there, you cant expect them to live out of a suitcase.

Central admin would cause more problems than help - Same as it does in business, no account of your own priorities.

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I have to agree with this, on its own 50k is not a lot compared to jobs MPs could no doubt get in the city, but when you add pensions and expenses it adds up to a more realistic figure. It just comes across as under-hand the way MPs get their money, imo it should be payed in full and open to scrutiny, a realistic sum for a back-bench MP today would be around 100k.

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Lots of people live out of a suitcase and all they have is a basic salary, commission and travelling expenses.

What problems do you see with central admin? Lots of businesses manage with a mixture of typing pools, secretaries and PAs.

MPs forget that they are civil servants answerable to the electorate not political joyriders living a luxurious lifestyle at the expense of the taxpayers.

---------- Post added at 14:40 ---------- Previous post was at 14:32 ----------

There seems to be this ridiculous argument that if you pay somebody a vast salary they will automatically be more efficient. If that the case why is the Royal Mail failing when Adam Crozier's being paid millions.

We need to get Parliament and Public Services to get their heads out of the clouds and employing the long tested method that if you are not up to the job then you are sacked.

Too much public money is wasted on golden hellos, golden handshakes, overinflated salaries & overgenerous pensions. If MPs want 100K and perks let them earn it by giving us efficient, effective, transparent government characterized by high moral values and integrity.

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Sorry I know its not MP related and old news, but thought it a good example of the above, ironically an PM was trying to stop it

"An MP has criticised a £243,000 pay-off to an NHS director who worked for a debt-ridden trust for three weeks."
and after 2.5 years of gardening leave too

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/s...es/6258595.stm

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The MP defending nulabs borrowing policy on the bbc a week or so ago 'daily politics' was clueless borderline thick. The presenter was completely overwhelming her and she ended up with a casual remark of "lets just wait and see shall we".

---------- Post added at 15:42 ---------- Previous post was at 15:40 ----------

If you look at some things in walks of life, like in private companies you even have to justify buying pens on the expenses list whilst MPs can buy stuff and not need to provide receipts it there is an assumption of trust. Benefit claimants claiming much less have to provide proof for everything.

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What do forum members think of the proposal that MPs get a bigger salary in place of expenses?

As per usual, it's all about looking after themselves and less accountability to the paying public.

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It's more than business would think their talents are worth I bet

---------- Post added at 14:10 ---------- Previous post was at 14:07 ----------

How about buying/ building properties out of the public purse, that remain the property the public and can then be given to other MP's when they are finished with them

As opposed to giving members of your family non jobs paid for by us. I think they should be allocated a secretary and if they need other staff at times they should have to approach an agency for qualified temps

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From my personal experience I am aware that those MPs still work very hard for those who elected them :) Well mines does anyway. I just thought I should mention that

I wonder what the expenses claims are like from them. Now that might be funny :D

---------- Post added at 14:19 ---------- Previous post was at 14:17 ----------

A bank robber :D

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That should be treated as frau in my view, i see no issue with them having their own staff - If I was an MP common sense would tell me not to have pay family members.

In principal not a bad idea but where can they build new houses in London? (In volume) Plus as we do why shouldnt they decide where they live?! Massive security risk having all the MP's in one place (which realistically is what woudl be required)

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All the MPs are together at Parliament but Fathers For Justice and others have demonstrated how pathetic security is.

That's why I suggested a large hotel ( already existing) where only MPs and MP supervised guests would get in. After all, this is work related.

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No one said they have to be built together or bought together. Why should we decide where they live? Why should we have to pay for it then, they take what's on offer or they fend for themselves imo, with luck this gravey train has hit the buffers and they had better get used to it. Some of these ponces seem to forget they are there to serve us not us serve them.

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Have you ever had to travel for work? 9 suspect yes but only for an odd day so you see it as a bit of an adventure..

I work away a lot because of my role with VM, every week - Its crap, I only have to go for 1-2 days you would have to pay me more than an MP's pay to spend weeks at a time in a hotel.

They do have wives and partners (and both) you cant LIVE in a hotel.

Well considered argument/discussion there.. 50K to maintain 2 homes one of which is in London? Dont be so silly and try and have a degree of objectivity.

Some of you people do make me laugh.

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Have to agree with you, Mr W - I have spent over half my working life living out of hotels, and it stinks (which is why I have now taken a job one mile / five miles from my house (I have two offices, which I divide my time between0).

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Yawn, perhaps if you stopped laughing long enough you might actually read what is written rather than what you think is written :rolleyes:

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Ok lets buy them all a house in London (which remain property of the state as suggested) lets say within 15 miles of Westminster as that seems reasonable, 3 bedrooms?

So thats just shy of a million each - 646 MP's adds up to a good outlay.

I can see the headlines and subsequesnt threads now!!

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Something along the lines of, "Greedy MPs spend over half a billion of your money to live life of luxury"

I've said this earlier, MPs pay should be transparent and set at around the 100k mark, we are talking here of the people who run our country and I personally don't resent that amount being paid.

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Err no it doesn't, try Stratford, West Ham, Plaistow, Walthamstow and Leytonstone for instance, 3 bedroom properties there don't cost a million for a start and why does it have to be three bedroom, it's some where for them to stay in the week not a family home.

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Actually, three 'bedrooms' sounds about right. One bedroom, a study/office, and a guestroom doesn't sound unreasonable to me.

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the only good proposal they can offer is cutting down their expenses. I have yet to hear an MP explain why they should live in london when their job is to look after the people that vote for them.

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Hm, MP... Member of Parliament, might give you a clue.

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Where are the Houses of Parliament again?

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most MPs are not actually there every day.

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No, because they divide their time between attending parliament and their constituency (well, that's the idea anyway), so they need a residence in both places. And as has been pointed out, staying in a hotel is not really an option.

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They finally know we're on to them?
Link

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Perhaps they should be means tested before able to claim additional expenses like all benefit claimants, so if they have 16k of saving etc. then no expense claims allowed.