MPs and their expenses - it's becoming personal
The saga of our MPs and their expenses rolls on. Here’s a quick summary of today’s developments:
- MPs are sneakily preparing to pass a new law that will allow them to defy a High Court order that would have forced them to disclose their expenses under the Freedom of Information Act.
- The new measures will allow MPs to continue to make claims far in excess of what the taxman would deem reasonable in the private sector, and similarly far in excess of what is acceptable in the public sector as a whole.
Needless to say, the rumblings of revolt are building to a crescendo from all sides in response to the ‘one rule for us, and another rule for the rest of the populace’ attitude shown by the MPs.
However, the statement that I reacted to was this one from Speaker of the House Michael Martin, in justifying why MPs would not have to submit receipts: “It would be excessively burdensome for Members to have provided receipts for all transactions and that additional costs incurred would be likely disproportionate.”
For me that’s when it becomes a little personal: We’ve invested a lot of effort into making sure that expenses can be entered, approved and processed quickly, easily and inexpensively. The technology now exists - give us a call Mr Speaker and we’ll solve all your issues immediately.
10 months ago • 0 notes