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: