I AM STAGGERED BY ABUSE OF EXPENSES
Brown should give us election Cameron has repeatedly called for
By Ann Widdecombe
YE GODS, one can be wrong sometimes and I was never more wrong than when I said abuse of the MPs’ entirely justified allow ances was confined to a small minority of MPs.
It is, mercifully, still a minority but hardly as tiny as I had thought. The rotten, corrupt shower who have treated the expenses as a money-making machine rather than reimbursement of unavoidable outlays should resign now as a point of honour, if that word means anything any more.
They have disgraced us all, brought Parliament into the gutter and have probably made life impossible for honest MPs, both present and future, who are likely to be faced with a new set of rules which may make it difficult for those on modest incomes to aspire to Parliament.
There is no possibility, given the size of the Government’s majority, that Her Majesty’s Opposition can win a vote of no confidence in the Government but we could instead table a motion calling for Parliament’s dissolution.
If Brown had any integrity at all he would give us the election for which David Cameron has repeatedly called. Then let the expense-abusers submit themselves to the electorate.
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If Brown had any integrity at all he would give us the election for which David Cameron has repeatedly called.
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I could weep for Parliament. I could laugh at myself. I moved to Devon last year and therefore had to rent a flat in London for the remainder of my time in Parliament. As it was my decision and not the taxpayers’ that I should leave
London so early in a Parliament I have borne the rent myself and all other associated costs of the second home.
Now I read of cynical and repeated “flipping”, capital gains tax scams, second homes that never were and grandiose designer work. Why do I coyly talk about “expense-abusers”? Some of it is plain thievery and would attract the
attention of the police if tried anywhere else.
I still say that much of the media coverage is wrong and helps only to put serious people off trying for Parliament.
We are not lavishly paid, our pension scheme has a high rate of con- tribution and is fully funded unlike most public sector schemes and we do need, unless you want Parliament to be the preserve of the rich, help with splitting our lives into two places.
The media should admit all of that as it should also admit that some lesser but questionable claims may well have been honest error.
That however pales into nothingness compared to the sheer scale of the fraud – yes, much of it is fraud – now revealed. I reel under the impact.
What makes it worse is that this is not just a hangover from the days when our allowances were so appalling that we had to subsidise them but is immediately practised by new MPs. One of David Cameron’s team who appears to have lost no time in milking the system was elected only in 2005. If the allegations are true, he should be off the front bench yesterday, although compared to some of the Government ministers his tomfoolery looks almost naive.
Oh what a circus, oh what a show. I’m glad that in less than a year I shall no longer be part of it.
A.W FOR SPEAKER
20.05.09, 9:06am
Ann .Please reconsider standing for speaker,parliament needs honest straight talking members like you,i have long been an admirer of your forthrightness and i personally think you would be a great Prime minister
• Posted by: brijay1 • Report Comment
BUT THEY WILL ALL GET A INDEX LINKED PENSION
20.05.09, 3:14am
Stop their indexed linked pensions like the governments of all clours has for pensioner living outside the EU and a few designated countries. No rises for pensioners who have paid their dues over 44 years to qualify. What a bunch of thieving lying people they have become or were they they before getting on the gravy train ? Give all British pensioners uplifts every year no matter where they live they deserve it, they put the GREAT in Britain.
• Posted by: Youngpeter • Report Comment
YOU ARE RIGHT DAVYONE BUT.......
17.05.09, 11:40am
...........the problems you highlight are the visible symptoms of the sick, corrupt and incompetent government we have had these past years. The problems arose because those elected to parliament and given ministerial office were more interested in feathering their own nest than ensuring that the sick, the old, the vulnerable, the young and the needy were properly catered for. Instead they catered for those who brought their misfortune on themselves, the uneducated who did not go to school, the unemployed who would not work, the criminals who thought society's rules were not for them, and the foreigners who, rather than fix the problems of their own society, wanted to live like cuckoos in a 'ready furnished, all expenses paid' society.
And they did this to undermine the value of the vote of the good, concerned, hard working, law abiding citizens of this land.
And it is no good telling me that the all immigrants coming to this country are law abiding, not when they lie on their applications for asylum, bear false documents, cross borders illegally and break our laws when they arrive here.
• Posted by: moonlighter • Report Comment
WE TRUST YOU NOT
16.05.09, 9:31am
each day brings more storys of dishonesty and both leaders stand up and say its got to Chang
but i ask this did they not know what was going on did they not know that there mps was milking the system and if it had not been repoted would it still not be going on and to cover them selfs they said iv done nothing wrong it was in the rules
yes may be it was in the rules but the rules was set up by mps for mps and they are all part of it
SO I SAY TO ALL THE MPS YOU HAVE TOOK US FOR A RIIDE AND NOW ITS PAY BACK TIME AND YOU WILL PAY
• Posted by: benroy • Report Comment
THERE ARE PEOPLE STARVING IN THE WORLD, AND BIGGER PRIORITIES HERE!
15.05.09, 12:31pm
BABY 'P'
All the following have let this innocent 17 month old toddler called Peter down;
Family Law and Law Lords who rely so heavily on advice from social services!
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/system/topicRoot/Family_Courts/
The social services that keep being comended by OFSTED but fail again and again!
http://www.haringey.gov.uk/index/news_and_events/leaderapology.htm
The Police!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7991820.stm
The Hospital!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_8047000/8047282.stm
His parents and ' Guardians!'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7708398.stm
And all of us if we allow this to happen again!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/nov/12/childprotection-climbie
We should all vote for radical change, now and for the future, never again!!
DAVEYONE
• Posted by: Daveyone • Report Comment
ANNE, YOU CAN'T SEE WHEN YOUR HEAD IS IN THE SAND !
15.05.09, 12:05pm
The problem of the MP gravy train train has been raised numerous times over the years. Any MP who truly wanted to protect their personal integrity and the taxpayers interests would have started to ask questions and demand answers long ago, the PROOF of misdoing was there, it just had to be looked for and brought into the open. Claims from any MP that they did not realise the extent of the problem are, at the least, weak and of little interest to the public.
Just how much do politicians value their integrity ? The time for them to protect their integrity was when the first whiff of scandal rose up to their nostrils, not when they became knee deep in the source of it.
• Posted by: moonlighter • Report Comment
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