Two bites of the expenses cherry but all within the rules……………….
Any MP forced to quit over the expenses scandal will be in line for pay-offs of more than £100,000 and pensions of up to £30,000 a year.
Gordon Brown has warned that no MP who has “defied the rules” on expenses will be allowed to stand at the next election.
MPs embroiled in the scandal remain entitled to two pay-offs so long as they serve until the general election, rather than resign immediately. All MPs who step down, or are defeated, at an election are paid a “resettlement grant” designed to compensate for loss of salary. It ranges between six months’ and one year’s pay depending on age and length of service in the Commons.
Please read this bit carefully.
An MP aged between 55 and 64 who has been in Parliament for 15 years will be paid a year’s salary – £64,766 at current rates. The first £30,000 is tax-free. In addition, all MPs can claim a maximum of £40,799 for “winding-up costs” to pay off staff and end office leases. Politicians also benefit from a generous final salary pension scheme heavily subsidised by the taxpayer.
Lets see:
MP.
Rip the arse out of expenses, all within the rules.
Apply for resettlement grant at taxpayer’s expense, all within the rules.
Apply for winding up expenses grant at taxpayer’s expense, all within the rules.
Keep pension pot at taxpayer’s expense, all within the rules.
Any other employee.
No taxpayer funded expenses.
No taxpayer funded resettlement grant.
No taxpayer winding up expenses.
No taxpayer funded pension pot.
If you lose your job or resign from your job you will not be able to claim back similar expenses from the taxpayer within the rules, unless you sign on and claim what you can from the benefits system, all within the rules of course.
Perhaps having a social conscience should be put back into the rules.
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Suddenly none of them are talking about stopping Fred Goodwins pension pay out…
Sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander
Aww, don’t you have any feelings, WEB?
“Gordon Brown has warned that no MP who has “defied the rules” on expenses will be allowed to stand at the next election”.
Dear old Gordon. “He occasionally stumbled over the truth, but then quickly picked himself up and hurried on as if nothing had happened”.*
* Yet again I find one of Winston’s great quotes fitting this taxpayers bill debacle perfectly.
I remember some time ago, reading that the modern form of our government is the least corrupt that has ever been. Now whilst I do not advocate corruption in any form, in the past MPs ‘subsidised’ their income with back handers for votes, or taking cash for questions or similar. Yes the buggers were corrupt, but they were not doing it with our money..
Heads are rolling! Only 600+ to go…..
Tony, Heads are starting to roll but, a big but, they still don’t get it. The constant denials, deflections to the rules added to the arrogance and dismissal of public opinion suggests that they do not fully understand how aware the public mood is. There is likely to be more who choose not to stand at the next election because the financial resettlement expenses are just too good to miss out on. The whole thing sucks, especially after listening to them for years telling me how careful, prudent and belt tightening everyone has to be. My conditions of service have been eroded, my pay has been shafted by deceiving two faced and hypocritical people who line their own pockets at the expense of everyone else. It makes a change for the Police to be less hated than MP’s in some areas.
You have said it all WEB, ‘all within the rules’
You see, Dickiebo and many others have blogged about this which I don’t blame you, but as I pointed out, it was ‘all within the rules’ So, it’s not so much the MP’s that need changing, it’s the rules.
Why has it been allowed to go on for so long, and who was it that decided on how much they could claim?
That should have been changed years ago.
It’s only now that we have found out, that they suddenly want to change the rules, it should have been done years ago.