Mps Expenses £1.3 Million Quid

[HeHasRisen]

Just now, Anna B said:

That was after he became Leader of the Opposition. Of course his expenses would rise in that position. Very different to being a backbench MP. 

He was Leader of the Opposition in the financial year April 20 through March 21?  

 

He was technically only leader for FOUR DAYS in that period and then went back to the back benches, and still spent £202k on staffing that financial year. hardly the "socialist hero" you are making him out to be.

Edited February 11, 2022 by HeHasRisen

[Anna B]

1 hour ago, whiteowl said:

What's the average rent of a flat in London? Depends on area obviously but a quick scan of the Internet suggests about 1500per month rising to 6000per month in Westminster.

Times that by 12 and the costs get big very quickly 🤷‍♂️

 

Perhaps they should move parliament up North where it's cheaper.

Fat chance of that.

Mind you, they have no compunction about moving people on benefits up North miles away from their families to save on housing benefit. Maybe the same mindset should apply....

2 minutes ago, HeHasRisen said:

He was Leader of the Opposition in the financial year April 20 through March 21?  

 

He was technically only leader for FOUR DAYS in that period and then went back to the back benches, and still spent £202k on staffing that financial year. hardly the "socialist hero" you are making him out to be.

Expenses were for the previous year.

[HeHasRisen]

7 minutes ago, Anna B said:

 

Expenses were for the previous year.

How sure of that are you? Douglas Ross, as an example, only became an MP in June 2017

 

https://www.theipsa.org.uk/mp-staffing-business-costs/your-mp/douglas-ross/4627

 

The first year on there is April 2017 through March 2018...the same year he first got in. I mean unless you are claiming he claimed over £100k for a year he wasnt even an MP, your assertion about Corbyn is, to be perfectly blunt, total b0llox.

Edited February 11, 2022 by HeHasRisen

[hackey lad]

2 hours ago, HeHasRisen said:

No no no people on this thread want MPs to live by drinking their own spit and rummaging in bins, before heading to the gutter for the evening covered in a few cardboard boxes for warmth, and then to hitchhike back to their constituencies the next day.

Stop being silly. Who has said that?

[crookesey]

56 minutes ago, hackey lad said:

Stop being silly. Who has said that?

HeHasHas 😉

Edited February 11, 2022 by crookesey

[ECCOnoob]

4 hours ago, Anna B said:

That was after he became Leader of the Opposition. Of course his expenses would rise in that position. Very different to being a backbench MP. 

Bit of an exageration.

But maybe a committee of ordinary mortals should be in charge of scrutinising MP's expenses. Let's see if they can get a duckpond past them...

I thought that was supposed to be one of the campaigns by the taxpayers' alliance, until their own expenditure and funding was called into question and quelle surprise they went all quiet about it.

 

All well and good suggestion about some partisan committee, but what exactly do these 'ordinary mortals' know about parliamentary operations and constituency operations in order to make informed judgement.  Why would they be any different to the authorities already in charge of it now. How much exactly will they want paying for their services as I doubt they're going to do it for free...  

 

Of course we all know about the headline grabbing selections of outrageous expenses but ultimately MPs and their offices cost money. It has to be paid for somehow and any business operation there is always going to be expenses. 

 

Working for a large multinational firm, I dread to think what my company travel and accommodation costs are per year. Even in my own department of 40 + staff pre pandemic at least a quarter of the team would usually be elsewhere requiring cost of train tickets and/or hotels every single week.

 

So quickly it all adds up and simply headlining the the cumulative total to generate shock horror reactions is pretty disingenuous. Nobody can ever comment with any real sense of authority until they have full context about what exactly these three MPs expenses break down to.  Until that happens, all that gets created is faux outrage with no facts.

Edited February 11, 2022 by ECCOnoob

[Baron99]

7 hours ago, whiteowl said:

What's the average rent of a flat in London? Depends on area obviously but a quick scan of the Internet suggests about 1500per month rising to 6000per month in Westminster.

Times that by 12 and the costs get big very quickly 🤷‍♂️

 

Perhaps they should move parliament up North where it's cheaper.

They all don't need to be be in London for 5 days a week.  Not all are required to be as they don't sit on Parliamentary Committees, etc.  Parliament itself, doesn't sit as often as you think & there's no mandatory requirement for an MP to be in the House. 

 

I look forward to the SF thread in a few months "MP's NOT WORKING in Westminster From July to the end of Oct - what do we pay them all these wages & expenses for??????? and.????????" 

[HeHasRisen]

1 minute ago, Baron99 said:

They all don't need to be be in London for 5 days a week.  

 

 

So you want them to book hotel rooms instead, which would probably cost more than renting a flat on a monthly basis?

 

Lets all just accept democracy has a cost. If they didnt claim expenses and the HoC paid for the office staff, hotels, flats, travel etc it would just be part of the HoC operating costs, it matters not which way round it is.

[Baron99]

12 minutes ago, HeHasRisen said:

So you want them to book hotel rooms instead, which would probably cost more than renting a flat on a monthly basis?

 

Lets all just accept democracy has a cost. If they didnt claim expenses and the HoC paid for the office staff, hotels, flats, travel etc it would just be part of the HoC operating costs, it matters not which way round it is.

I refer you to my earlier response. 

 

Why can't the Civil Service be responsible for office administration for MP's? 

 

They are responsible for the senior advisory roles.  At least it would offer employment to ordinary UK workers rather than as we have seen lately, taking on an internship of a child of a foreigner who had weedled her way into the confidence of Govt. 

Edited February 11, 2022 by Baron99

[HeHasRisen]

14 minutes ago, Baron99 said:

I refer you to my earlier response. 

 

Why can't the Civil Service be responsible for office administration for MP's? 

 

They are responsible for the senior advisory roles.  At least it would offer employment to ordinary UK workers rather than as we have seen lately, taking on an internship of a child of a foreigner who had weedled her way into the confidence of Govt. 

As I said, thats just moving the cost from expenses to fixed office costs, it really makes no odds.

 

Ecconoob has it bang on. People see a figure and the red mist decends. Democracy costs money.