ALL QUIET ON THE WESTMINSTER FRONT ?
It`s a couple of years on from the great MPs expenses scandal and so it`s not really surprising that little has been heard on that subject lately. Which is a pity, because details just released show the scale of expenses still being doled out to MPs at Westminster, along with some very telling examples of how at least some of them `still don`t get it.`
Figures included in the latest batch of data about these expenses show that for just the two months of October and November last year, £3,500,000 worth of MP`s expenses were processed by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority. Claims for mileage amounted to a staggering £92,000 and MPs also claimed £11,352 for taxis, this despite a supposed ban on the use of taxis `in all but exceptional circumstances.`
Among the `still don`t get it` category were claims by Labour MP Adrian Bailey for attending Remembrance Day services in his West Bromwich constituency. Now Mr. Bailey is chairman of the powerful House of Commons Business, Innovation and Skills Committee and he was clearly showing all of those qualities when he claimed £13 for attending three separate services last November, along with a claim for £3.50 to attend the launch of a local Poppy Appeal in October. These claims are apparently permitted under Parliament`s allegedly `tough new rules` and were therefore approved by the Standards Authority.
Now Mr. Bailey is a senior figure on Labour`s back benches and in addition to his £80,000 a year MP salary he also gets £14,500 for his role as the Committee chairman, but quite apart from the money aspect of his claims, his constituents might reasonably expect him to attend this kind of event voluntarily? Not a bit of it, so we should not be surprised that he added the kind of claims that included £2.25 for `tea and cake` and another £3.35 for `cake, apple, coffee and two plums.`
And so it is surprising that, with the extent and type of claims being revealed as still going on, seemingly in the face of the furore of two years ago, we`re not hearing as much about them as perhaps we should.
Among the `still don`t get it` category were claims by Labour MP Adrian Bailey for attending Remembrance Day services in his West Bromwich constituency. Now Mr. Bailey is chairman of the powerful House of Commons Business, Innovation and Skills Committee and he was clearly showing all of those qualities when he claimed £13 for attending three separate services last November, along with a claim for £3.50 to attend the launch of a local Poppy Appeal in October. These claims are apparently permitted under Parliament`s allegedly `tough new rules` and were therefore approved by the Standards Authority.
Now Mr. Bailey is a senior figure on Labour`s back benches and in addition to his £80,000 a year MP salary he also gets £14,500 for his role as the Committee chairman, but quite apart from the money aspect of his claims, his constituents might reasonably expect him to attend this kind of event voluntarily? Not a bit of it, so we should not be surprised that he added the kind of claims that included £2.25 for `tea and cake` and another £3.35 for `cake, apple, coffee and two plums.`
And so it is surprising that, with the extent and type of claims being revealed as still going on, seemingly in the face of the furore of two years ago, we`re not hearing as much about them as perhaps we should.
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