Apparently one MP had claimed expenses for a MOAT


Bless.....

Keep up,

Oh, I see...sorry. I've been busy

The latest one is the MP who claimed £16,000 for a mortgage that had already been paid off. An 'honest mistake' apparently. This is on a day when four of our soldiers came home in coffins. These so-called 'public servants' should all be ashamed of themselves.

Yeah I read about that £800 a month, a honest mistake that lasted for 18-20 months, they are only doing this as the cats out the bag, I wouldnt be suprised if a lot of labour "safe" seats will go in the european and general election. I know its not only labour MP's on the tkae but this on top of everything else could result in a lot of them going

The story is even worse when you also take into account that at one time he "flipped" his main home to a property in london that he had already let out to another MP who was already claiming for it!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstop ... enses.html

This seems the most clear cut case of fraud to date. Its a shame no-one at Scotland Yard reads the Torygraph otherwise he might be in a cell with a benefits cheat and we all know that MPs hold them in total disdain. Come on Yates of the yard - get stuck into some MPs.

the guy also looks like he should be in that kids show the riddlers

Send them to the Tower

You gotta hand it to the Torygraph, they look like they've come up with the biggest scoop since Watergate.

I wonder what "gate" this will end up being christened with. Or maybe this is above Watergate and will redefine the genre completely. You could have things like "IraqMP's expenses", or specially for POK, "EurovisionMP's expenses".

Not sure "WaterMP's expenses" would work like.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8045371.stm
you tell em pet

What about: Moatgate?

how to wriggle
an error of judgement
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8049614.stm
moat gate
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8045384.stm

"Error of judgement", is THAT what you call cheating these days.
As for Ould Foulkes Home in the other interview; how he endears himself to the great British public. "Don't you worry now; MP's ripping the country off isn't that remarkable. The vast majority are honest. [Only a handful are crooks]."

They really don't get it. The public are furious and a hell of a lot of them will be out on their arses come next May. Also I have a sneaky feeling that the Torygraph are holding back a few pearlers for when people start to get bored with all this. There must a few good ones to come. We haven't heard much about Tony Blair's expenses yet.

I see there is now info on the first pair of married MPs, tories, who each claimed one house as their main address so that both houses could be bought and furnished at the tax payers expense. I wonder if there are any other Westminster couples moving into the spotlight. We haven't heard about Yvette Cooper and Ed Balls. Thet were investigated last October over their £655k "second" home. You can buy quite a nice house in Castleford for that.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstop ... enses.html

I get the feeling they won't get off so lightly this time around

At least we have some new words of derision
flippers - those that change the nomination of their main and second home
double dippers - couples that each nominate a different main and second home

The most clear case of fraud was Hazel Blears.

She claimed the second home allowance for the property she was occupying and then when she sold it she told the Inland Revenue that it was her first home. This meant she escaped paying Capital Gains Tax which you have to do if you sell any real estate which isn't your first home.

It wasn't the fact that she claimed second home allowance it was a clear case of tax evasion which any ordinary person would've ended up in jail for.

So are these crimes different to canoe mans then

Well theirs didnt involve any boats. Moats yes.....but not boats........and it will cost them votes......but not boats, or moats.

Ah Hazel Blears

If ever there was a woman with a very hittable face....then it belongs to her.

she lookes like squirrel nutkin

Sadly that's not right. The nominations to the Commons Sleaze Department has no standing with the tax man so "under the rules" you can nominate one to the Sleaze Dept and a different one to the tax man. When she sells her Salford home she will be liable for CGT for the period that she had the London home as her nominated main home to the taxman.

The simple solution is that whenever an MP sells a property the first call on any capital gains should be the repayment of ANY sums paid on that property.

The big problem here is that the rules and the law are out of step with public standards. Wonder who it is whos responsible for setting the rules/law? The electorate will judge the public standards.

Lester Piggott wasn't an ordinary person and he did two years. I expect at least the same for an elected government officer.

anyone watch queston time last night with margret beckett getting hounded for not paying the £60,000 pounds back, I wanted to smash her in the mouth she looked so smug about it all

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8051222.stm

She looks like Maggie Thatcher.

She looks like Princess Anne, more.

She just looks like she needs to be punched.

They're not all corrupt. The problem is that the 99% of bad ones are giving the other 1% a bad name.

Like it was said on the programme what we need is a full list and soon, so therefore we can see what percentage of the 500+ MP's are on the take, enabling us to see how their morals stand.

I hated the fact the openly admitted that people were doing this as a culture was set in place in the 80's during Thatcher to top up their wages that were under review at the time and the culture has continued. What should be done is increase the pay of MP's from 65K a year to 80k a year and then they should have to pay everything themselves.

Also liked the idea Ming Campbell had regarding houses in London doing the same as Australia and having appartments built close to the house of commons, if you get elected as an MP you get an apartment and when you loose the seat you hand it to your replacement. This surley is the cheaper option and would prevent all this flipping and london home problem

Various public sector workers have not had recommended pay reviews implemented and I guess there may be a few more over the coming years. Are MPs going to provide and expenses system for nurses and police etc as generous as they get? I think not. After all the admissions that this is all in lieu of salary surely the taxman should be taxing them on all their benefits.

I agree with building an apartment block for MPs - the Olympic Village will be available soon. They could run green shuttle buses back and forth.

Basically the salary for MPs should have been higher BUT it should now be lower because of the transfer of power to the EC and devolution in Scotland and Wales. Its simple, if you don't think you can live on £65k a year with provision of a flat at the Olympic village - don't stand for Parliament in 2010. Sorted.

Am I the only person on here not getting hot under the collar about all of this expensesgate? (Sorry Monty)

Stephen Fry sums it up nicely for me.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/n ... 045040.stm

I think a lot of politicians have lost a golden opportunity to be humble and relate to their constituents insetad of treating the whole British public with utter contempt.

I'm afraid both you and Mr Fry are very very wrong. This is fraud plainly and simply and the Police should investigate throroughly. If at least half a dozen MP's don't go to jail then its a cover up. I seem to remember that the courts give tough sentences to those who appear on charges where a position of trust has been breeched.

The only way out for the general good of pariliment is for anyone caught with their hand in the till to be de-selected and a general election to be called forthwith. The whole country has lost any semblence of confidence in this group of MP's.

it might not be such a bad thing to be governed by Brussels after all.... well maybe not initially... then we can change back again!!!

I'd like to think it could happen - but it won't. If an election was called tomorrow I doubt if 10% of MPs would be re-elected and the turkeys aren't going to vote for Christmas. I think the penny is just beginning to drop (or is it the guinea beginning to drop?) with MPs that the general public are seething over this. Unless MPs agree a retrospective change of rules back to 1997 with all claims scrutinised, with any excesses repaid and any fraud leading to prosecution then I think it will all blow up again before the election.