Tightening MPs Expenses
The rules covering MPs expenses are being tightened. But not by much, and not really properly. It’s a bodge of a compromise.
MPs will no longer be able to use taxpayer’s money to improve their homes by buying new kitchens, bathrooms, or furniture - and they will have to produce receipts for every item claimed, rather than just those over £250.
However, they will be given £30 to spend every day that Parliament is in session - £4,200 a year - without receipts. And the overall amount of expenses that MPs can claim every year is just £206 less than before at £23,800.
That is still one hell of a lot of our money that MPs can just take. It is still frankly extortionate. This half-arsed proposal especially doesn’t go anywhere near far enough:
At least one in five MPs would face “spot checks” on their expenses claims to be carried out by the National Audit Office and a full external audit on all expenses once per Parliament.
Why not every MP? And why just once a Parliament, ie. every four years or so? There should be an audit of every MP every year to check their expense claims. It is our money, so we must be sure that it is being spent properly.
The expenses must be tightened properly and fully: any and all expense claims must be supported by receipts, and the expenses of all MPs should be published every month, or at least every quarter. Until then, we can have no confidence that they are not fiddling the system.
This entry is filed under Money, Parliament. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
[...] expenses must be tightened properly, not half-heartedly. That cannot be done by MPs themselves, but must be done instead by independents. MPs must have no [...]
[...] £60,000 may not be a massive wage, but it’s high enough when their expense claims and holidays and pensions are taken into account, and the average wage in the country. Especially [...]