Jackqui Smith Down

Sacked? I quite agree.

It's. Not. About. The. Money.

And Al Capone got caught out by his tax return and that turned out
alright in the end.

 

As with Champ, you're forgetting Something Rather Important. Not all MPs
can claim that money.

If it is a part of the salary, then MPs must be the only people who
actually get paid £20k/year LESS for being based in Central London than
the provinces, then.

Inner London Constituency? £65k + £3k central London allowance.
Constituency outside Inner London? £65k + £24k additional cost allowance.

So are Inner London MPs somehow less worthy, since they don't get this
little back-door bonus intended to make up for the "shit" pay?

Or, perhaps, it's intended to do exactly what it says on the tin and
compensate for the additional costs incurred through the regular
commuting? It would seem to me that the only people trying to spin it as
somehow part of base salary are those who've been treating it as such,
forgetting that that's not what it is - as is surely proved by the fact
not all MPs get it.

If it is to compensate for the costs, then surely it should only be
available to those with a demonstrable need for those costs, and surely
it should be considered bang out of order to profit from it? And, yes, I
do count buying a property with it as "profitting".

 

No. I've worked in the NHS for 15 years.

In your opinion - fine. We can agree to disagree on that.

Has anyone said that in this thread?

Agreed. However, would you want an MP earning so little that they are
encouraged to fiddle their allowance claims to cover the cost of doing
the job? Would you want them to not be able to afford to visit their
constituency? Perhaps refuse to meet with you on an important issue
because they are spending their evenings driving a mini-cab?

 

Is it "tilting at windmills" to expect our elected representatives to be
_honest_?

 

AOL. And that's a strange way to spell "worrying".

 

Exactly. It's about the few (and it is a few) who stupidly tried to
cover it up and then lied ("I made a mistake and forgot I'd paid off my
mortgage") about it.

But it's not a major scandal. Sort out the few, congratulate the
majority and move on, nothing to see here.

It did didn't it.

 

I don't think that anyone is disputing that they have allowable and
justifiable claims to cover the cost of doing the job.

It's the avoidance of tax, claiming for non-existent mortgages that
people are quite rightly pissed off about.

 

<fx:thinks>

You two are MPs really, aren't you?

 

MPs should be able to claim legitimate expenses incurred in the course
of doing the job. That has nothing to do with base salary or fiddling
the system.

MPs should be able to claim legitimate expenses incurred in the course
of doing the job. That has nothing to do with base salary or fiddling
the system.

Reductio ad absurdum ain't just a river in Africa, honey.

 

I think they mostly are. Really I do. Some are a bit incompetent, some
not as bright as they should be, but on the whole I think they are honest.

There have been (you may have noticed this lately) a few high profile
exceptions to this.

 

I think the glazier will be round later.

 

I'm gorgeous me and so is he

 

Fair enough. I still consider 60k a lot of money....

No. Sorry.

I'll agree on that as well.

 

we have one of those, were regularly people artificially escalate the
severity/risk of a change so it has to be done at the weekend.

And of course, in Paris, when you work at the weekend, you both get
paid a healthy wedge *and* get time off in lieu the following week.

I reckon there are several of our infrastructure guys who are
augmenting their salary by as much as 25% and simply taking their
"weekend" every Monday/Tuesday.

 

pauper.

 

I've just had a conf. call during which I actually attempted to speak
some French.

They only laughed a lot.

 

They are paid quite well enough to do the job.

There is a legitimate travel allowance for that, and nobody has
complained about them using it (although claiming for mileage when you
shared a car with three other MPs, or when you took the train, is
fraud).

 

Indeed. In fact it used to stand for "America Online".

 

If you assume (and it's an assumption) that MP's should generally live in
their constituency, then the MP's outside London will spend more in the
process of doing their job.

Generally I feel that those who can commute should - and some of them do
(Cambridge MP as an example and also Ludlow - although I think he stays
with his brother - who is more generous of spirit that Jacqui Smith's
sister and doesn't charge so much) - but those who can't commute - for
whatever reason should be compensated for the additional costs of being
away from home during the week.

If I am away from home as part of my work I can claim the expenses
(agreed by the NHS) for that. Seems reasonable enough.

Now, where they have the advantage is that the fees office will assist
them in the claims, unlike the NHS where they try to hinder if they feel
you are over egging it.

If you were away from home most of the week, and working all weekend at
your constituency office (as some do) would Mrs Adrian suggest you got
someone to cut the lawn once a week during the summer? Mrs Simes would.
I wouldn't be able to claim the costs of that, but MPs can - it's a
legitimate expense caused by them doing their jobs well - and therefore
it's not a fiddle. It may be a bit iffy morally as it's tax payers
money, but it's sod all in the grand scheme of things, and if it allows
my MP to represent me and do his job because he's not spending time
trundling up and down with a mower, then that's good isn't it?

I'm not in any way defending those who have done wrong. But the baddies
are in the minority really. I think some good people are being tarred
with this particular brush undeservedly.

I do think that the country is being wound up about this, when really
it's not that important, as part of an agenda.

MPs allowances etc should be public knowledge, but a few of them fiddling
can be sorted out. We don't need public lynchings.

 

I think he has a mate in the mirror trade.