Just another sign of a Government being in power too long.
It’s not limited to a particular party - all three of the main ones have members who are at it (and probably some of the smaller ones too).
Every time an MP defends their claims by saying that they had acted “within the rules”, I just want to thump them. You mean those incredibly lax rules that you lot (or your predecessors) made up yourselves? Gee, thanks for having some restraint.
Even the Sinn Fein MPs (who, on principle don’t actually attend Parliament) have been claiming thousand in expenses for homes in London.
The Sinn Fein case is almost as bad as those UK Independence Party MEPs who , even though they are totally apposed to the EU, still attend the Parliament in Brussels and Strasbourg, and milk the system for all it’s worth.
Okay, now that is ballsy.
The what in the where?
Sinn Fein is the political wing of the (Northern Irish) Irish Republican Army. Sinn Fein puts candidates up for the UK Parliament, but they don’t actually take their seats if they win because their main reason for existence is to end the British “occupation” of Northern Ireland.
They do seat their candidates in the Stormont (the N.I. provincial assembly) I think.
I of course have heard of Sinn Fein. I was answering the OP.
“Of course”? I doubt most Americans have.
Turmoil in Northern Ireland got much more play in America than most European politics. Senator George Mitchell was involved. Many presidents have stated opinions on the subject over the years. Gerry Adams has been on American TV more than any English politician other than the Prime Minister. I could not confidently name politcal parties in England or for that matter Canada but I have heard of Sinn Fein often on American TV.
You’ll know what a sink estate is but, for the benefit of those who don’t, it’s a British council housing estate characterised by high levels of economic and social deprivation.
MPs now have high levels of economic deprivation because they can’t even claim a bath plug on expenses. They will now also experience social deprivation because nobody likes them any more, not that anyone ever did. If you place all these undesirable elements of society in the same location during the night as well as by day, it will result in Westminster being turned into an urban ghetto where, experience tells us, there is likely to be an upsurge in crime.
Before long, you’ll be reading stories about disaffected MPs forming gangs and going out mugging old ladies for money to fund the maintenance of their moats. Therefore, social accommodation solely for MPs is not a good solution. Somehow, we have to reintegrate these undesirables back into decent society without the general public suffering as a result.
Care in the community is far more preferable to soulless incarceration on a parliamentary boat, however problematic this may at first seem.
I think Meurglys has it right. It’s not a question of politicians being crooks. It’s just a matter of human nature, probabilities, and accountability. Make everything public in real time, and you’ll see bad behavior plummet.
I definitely agree. I’d read a bit about this scandal before this thread, and can’t say I was too surprised. It’s only human nature for someone to take advantage of OPM (other people’s money), and politicians are particularly prone to it.
And the Gurkha situation is shameful. What is Brown thinking? :smack:
Some of it is probably criminal. For example, the baroness who claims that her Kent home is her main home so that she can get second home costs for her London home, but claims the opposite when it comes to taxes. There are a couple of other situations like that.
I can understand people taking advantage sometimes, but some of them went just a little too far.
There are some who have swapped their second homes round repeatedly: claim home A as second home - claim for renovations and furniture to the tune of £40 grand - swap second home status to home B and do the same - sell home B for huge profits and buy a new one, then swap second home status to that home (C), claiming again for furniture and renovations - etc. etc. You may even get your mortgage paid entirely by the taxpayer as well as everything else.
Hazel Blears is one of the people caught doing this - and she’s the minister who oversees benefits (welfare), which are getting ever stricter, especially for parents and people with disabilities.
What she’s done may or may not be criminal (though there’s a chance it might be tax fraud), but it’s a bit beyond normal human fiddling, like pilfering stationery.
And the moat thing is just hilarious. 
Yes, some of it should be prosecuted under criminal law. My point was just that I don’t think things like this happen because “politicians” are innately less honest than everyone else.
On the question of that moat there is an amusing letter on this subject in today’s Times:-
Heaping opprobrium on a moat-owning MP is most unreasonable. A second-home owner needs security. A British made moat is far preferable to an intruder alarm, almost certainly assembled with foreign parts. It uses no electricity, conserves rainfall and accommodates wildlife. The man deserves a medal not abuse
FYI the IRA is (or was, it doesn’t really exist any more) a 32 county army, not just “Northern Irish”.
And although SF don’t take their seats they are in London regularly for talks with the British government and they have to stay somewhere. They may well be claiming for more than they ought to be but it’s not just a matter of getting an allowance for nothing.
Isn’t one of the reasons SF doesn’t take its parliamentary seats, that its members refuse to take the legally-required oath of loyalty to the Queen?
The whole thing was done to make Australia’s politicians look good.
BAH.
I expect this has been going for for several centuries. It’s no surprise that it was still happening. CEOs do it too. It’s probably encouraged as one of the perks* of the job.
*perqs? perks? It’s short for perquisites.