Dear All
The ‘wages of sin’ have just gone up; the expenses crackdown could leave some MPs better off.
Did anyone really think that the members of the House of Commons were going to give with one hand without taking back with the other?
The deckchairs have been moved on the Titanic but the attitude is still the same.
Sir Christopher Kelly, the chairman of the Committee for Standards in Public Life, made proposals to reform MPs expenses and allowances.
Sir Ian Kennedy, the head of the new expenses watchdog, waters them down.
To be expected?
Yes, totally expected.
Kennedy knows where his bread is buttered and that means ‘don’t bite the hand that feeds you’.
His disquiet is on a number of issues, one stands out, he says that it is “unacceptable” if existing MPs were allowed to keep capital gains from selling publicly funded second homes.
A ban is coming into place to rectify this; however some MPs can beat the ban before it takes effect by selling up and pocketing the cash.
And that is all within the rules but not within the spirit of the reforms.
So, does being ‘clever’ restore trust in Parliament?
No.
MPs however should be paid money than the current £65k but with more money should come less tolerance of those who abuse the system.
It appears that although the deckchairs maybe moving around, the talk of robust penalties and sanctions for abuse doesn’t figure on the radar.
In those cases such as claiming for mortgages that doesn’t exist or claims for houses that people don’t stay at, then the rule of law must take precedence.
People however make mistakes, we can all understand that and in cases of genuine error be forgiving, however outright deception cannot.
At the coming General Election, a number of MPs are standing down and a considerable more are doing to lose their seats.
It is not enough that the players change so to should the rulebook and the culture.
Without such cultural change then the legacy of the expenses scandal will remain firmly in the public mind.
Not a great ad for democracy when you can’t trust your elected representative!
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
The ‘wages of sin’ have just gone up; the expenses crackdown could leave some MPs better off.
Did anyone really think that the members of the House of Commons were going to give with one hand without taking back with the other?
The deckchairs have been moved on the Titanic but the attitude is still the same.
Sir Christopher Kelly, the chairman of the Committee for Standards in Public Life, made proposals to reform MPs expenses and allowances.
Sir Ian Kennedy, the head of the new expenses watchdog, waters them down.
To be expected?
Yes, totally expected.
Kennedy knows where his bread is buttered and that means ‘don’t bite the hand that feeds you’.
His disquiet is on a number of issues, one stands out, he says that it is “unacceptable” if existing MPs were allowed to keep capital gains from selling publicly funded second homes.
A ban is coming into place to rectify this; however some MPs can beat the ban before it takes effect by selling up and pocketing the cash.
And that is all within the rules but not within the spirit of the reforms.
So, does being ‘clever’ restore trust in Parliament?
No.
MPs however should be paid money than the current £65k but with more money should come less tolerance of those who abuse the system.
It appears that although the deckchairs maybe moving around, the talk of robust penalties and sanctions for abuse doesn’t figure on the radar.
In those cases such as claiming for mortgages that doesn’t exist or claims for houses that people don’t stay at, then the rule of law must take precedence.
People however make mistakes, we can all understand that and in cases of genuine error be forgiving, however outright deception cannot.
At the coming General Election, a number of MPs are standing down and a considerable more are doing to lose their seats.
It is not enough that the players change so to should the rulebook and the culture.
Without such cultural change then the legacy of the expenses scandal will remain firmly in the public mind.
Not a great ad for democracy when you can’t trust your elected representative!
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
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