Guest Post - Troughing all over the world...
TB has another exam tomorrow so he thought he would throw open the floor for a guest post. Stuart MacLennan is Labour's Parliamentary Candidate for
Moray
and here he offers some thoughts on the expenses farce:There can be little doubting the public outrage over the issue of MPs expenses. Recently I’ve been campaigning extensively for the forthcoming Euro elections it’s quite clear that it’s the only issue anyone wants to talk about. MPs now find themselves in a quandary as to how to go about reforming expenses and have so far struggled to reach a consensus. But this surely cannot be a purely British dilemma? The following table contains a brief breakdown of how other comparable national legislatures deal with the issue of expenses:
US CONGRESS:
Representatives and Senators receive an annual salary of $174,000 (approx. £140,000).
Travel expenses calculated by a set formula.
Federal Income Tax allowance of up to $3000 for living expenses.
FRENCH NATIONAL ASSEMBLY:
Annual salary of €62,160 (approx. £55,000).
FREE first class rail travel anywhere in the country.
40 return flights per year between Paris and their Constituencies.
€69,480 (approx. £62,000) for living expenses, additional travel and entertainment.
Low-interest housing loans.
GERMAN BUNDESTAG:
Annual salary of €88068 (approx. £80,000)
€45,384 (approx.£40,000) for travel and living expenses.
By now I should imagine that anyone reading this blog is more than familiar with how things work in Westminster so I have omitted them from the table brevitatis causa. While I have included travel expenses they aren’t the central focus of the debate at hand and are worthy of a mere passing mention. Office and staffing allowances are largely irrelevant to this debate and I have therefore omitted them entirely.
The Americans, never ones for complexity, have gone for the very simple strategy of paying their Congressmen more. The income tax allowance doesn’t come remotely close to covering the cost of a second home in or around D.C., and certainly not hotel accommodation (The Senate typically sits between 100 and 150 days per year which is just slightly below the 165 days the Commons sat last year). With no expenses for second homes it’s little wonder that Joe Biden spent 36 years commuting over two hours back to Delaware and pocketing the cash.
On the face of it the French seem somewhat more frugal with their Deputies receiving a salary in the region of £10k less that our MPs. However when you consider that all the travel they could ever possibly manage is provided gratis the £62,000 living allowance makes for one heck of a lavish lifestyle (perhaps most of it disappears under the heading ‘entertainment’?) This allowance seems all the more generous when coupled with the extremely low-interest loans that are on offer for Deputies to buy second homes.
German MPs, being every bit as un-nuanced as the Americans, have a fairly simple system of allowances, with travel and living expenses being lumped together in a package more modest than their French counterparts but they make up for it with their more generous salaries.
When compared with the United Kingdom it could in fact be argued that our MPs are comparatively hard done by. The Additional Costs Allowance of £24,000 seems a mere pittance when compared with the French allowance of £62,000.
So why is it that we in Britain are so outraged when by international standards our MPs aren’t anything like as well compensated by their foreign counterparts? Why is it that we seem more outraged by Jacqui Smith’s claim for a bath-plug than Oliver Letwin’s tennis court? I would suggest that the answer to this is in the way that this whole row has been handled rather than the claims themselves.
MPs went to the highest court in the land to prevent these claims from being published, which undoubtedly led us all to believe that what lies beneath mush be truly scandalous. Perhaps if MPs had more readily complied with the Freedom of Information laws they themselves passed then the public may have proved somewhat more forgiving.
It is also unfortunate too that the information was leaked to the Telegraph for a reportedly exorbitant sum ahead of the official release, allowing the Telegraph to cherry pick the most scandalous elements without allowing the rest of us to consider these claims in their proper context. Were we, the public, permitted access to this information then we may well have concluded that the vast majority of MPs are, in fact, not ‘on the take’ – with Alan Johnson’s exceptionally modest claims being one of the few good examples we have seen so far.
I’m not going to defend MPs like David Miliband and Alan Duncan who attempted to put a somewhat liberal interpretation on the rules. However sunshine is said to be the best disinfectant, and if party leaders aren’t shamed into removing the very worst offenders from their jobs then the electorate may soon do it for them.
Stuart blogs at
Hackwatch
. If you would like to write a guest post for torybear.com please do get in touch with TB.
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6 comments:
Openness is key. Every penny of the taxpayer's money - for that is what bought the Tudor beams, dog food and Tampax - must be accounted for in a way that will satisfy every voter's right to know that his or her money is being spent wisely. No more secrecy, and no hiding behind FOI exemptions - any MP who believes he or she spends money wisely should not be ashamed to tell voters precisely how they are getting good value for money.
I think you're missing the point a bit. What scandalises me most is the fact that we pay for their food, their TVs, their barbecues.
I don't begrudge a second home allowance, but I don't think I should pay for their food as well as my own. What upsets people about this is all the things which we have to pay for out of our taxed income, but which an MP can get us to pay for. What do they spend their salaries on?
It's the dishonesty and greed (particularly by the well-heeled) that's galling.
Most of us have come to realise that we prefer conviction politicians with wisdom borne of experience in the world, to career politicians who rise to power in order to make their fortunes.
A high proportion of Labour MPs fall into the latter category - and look what a mess they have made of the country, the economy and our freedoms.
The German system might work in Germany on people with the German character. The US system might work in the US where they have an excellent constitution. That doesn't mean that either of them would work here; the British character is entirely different.
I abhor the fact that there's one law for them and another for the rest of us. They should be made to live with the laws they create - then perhaps they'd take more care drafting and vetting them.
We have to live in the mess they created, while they do a Callaghan: "Crisis? What crisis?"
Is this chap for real?
The best he can muster is "Yes we're scum... but it could be worse."
To the tower! What a Hoon.
The plan: Full explanation from each MP published on line with a summary of findings from the party leader and a recommendation for further action. At this point I would advocate criminal proceedings but sackings and facing the vote of the local party reps would be a good start.
Why is he still speaker?
That is a good question he certainly pertains none of the qualities of previous speakers:
He is not bright, smart, articulate, knowledgeable nor a traditionalist. Of the many things that speakers normally are he is not. But first and foremost most he is a rude and contemptuous pig with no respect for process, people or history.
He was chosen as speaker for the one and only reason that he was a "working man" without any form of formal qualifications or service to the armed forces - unlike most previous speakers.
He is a despicable joke and he has thoroughly harmed the UK.
Repuation is difficult to attain, hard to build hard to maintain but even harder to restore.
Might I suggest that everyone who's concerned about Speaker Martin write to their MPs to urge them to back Carswell's motion of no confidence?
Do it here: https://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/