I know I've not really commented on the proposals that Gordon Brown has made for expenses so I thought I would just pass a little comment this morning. All power to the Liberal Democrats for the line that these changes will bring the Brussels Gravy Train to the UK.
THe problem Brown has with these proposals is they stink of desperation rather than anything else. Just a few weeks ago he was saying that the review should take place first, now, in the wake of his office being in negative headlines he's changed his mind and it's so transpearantly [sic] spin as well as half-baked.
You can kind of see the logic of thinking it would work as a solution to pay MPs allowances based on attendance. The problem is, what about the work they do that does not involve Parliament? I;m thinking here about their BLOODY CONSTITUENCIES. Aren't these proposals just going to discourage them from even spending time there?
Let's get something straight, the "expenses rows" do not relate to the legitimate use of monetary resources for Parliamentarians to do their jobs. It relates in the most part to where certain MPs have blatantly bled the system for what its worth by getting second homes on the taxpayers and making huge capital gains from it.
You can fix that issue in a stroke by saying that no one is allowed to supplement a second mortgage on a property and that they can only use such allowances for rental payments for either an office or a place to sleep. At the same time there needs otbe checks so that this is not abused by, for example, a spouse getting a mortgage and then renting the property to their MP other-half.
Oh yes, and they should start taking packed lunches to work. That's what the vast majority of us proles do.
5 comments:
Yes, a colander has fewer holes than this scrambled proposal. Typical Brown! Can't decide what his objectives are. Clueless management.
It is a minefield, but a smart manager would avoid the detail and simply set the strategic objective. For example, cut the total amount that can be spent in allowances by, say, 20%, nd leave it to the MPs to ork out a fair system of distribution - or one that they could all live with.
That way he could sell the cost saving to the taxpayer in terms they could understand and leave the MPs with some sense of control.
However, along with Gordon Brown's inability to trust health care professionals with health care, or police with policing, or teachers with teaching or civil servants with managing their departments, this will not happen, and so the solution will leave everybody, not least the taxpayers, extremely unhappy.
"You can kind of see the logic of thinking it would work as a solution to pay MPs allowances based on attendance."Yes. The MPs' salary was originally an attendance allowance, only over the years they've fiddled it so they get paid whether they turn up or not. Now they want an attendance allowance as well. I don't know whether to admire their brass neck or head down to London and start cracking heads.
The Daily Mash hits the nail right smack on the head (again):
"The key task here was to stop giving MPs lots and lots of free money, or at least make sure that when they got the free money they didn't use it to take the utter piss.
"But what he has actually done is guarantee them even more free money while at the same time - and this is the bit that I love - making it even easier for them to take the piss."
No, the problem Brown has with these proposals is that Cameron and Clegg have been given an open goal to squeal, rightly, that the mendacious bastard is still trying to cover his arse and give MP's too much gravy...and they can put it in simple terms that the chavs can and will understand.
Brown is a cretin.
I think its a brilliant idea.
175 quid a day per diem, 240 working days a year (48 week year) comes to 42K tax free.
I'm sure I can get my employer to pay me a per diem for turning up at work.
After all, why would MPs create a law for themselves that doesn't apply to others?
Nick
Your right about expenses, attendance allowances should not be paid just for turning up to a job they are already being paid for.
And the same goes for MEPs, we need a party that will instigate change and reform the way things are currently done in Europe.
Libertas is he only party that offers voters democracy, by listening to real issues, tranparency in all dealings and accountability of actions.
Get voting in June and put a real peoples party in power Libertas
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