Politicians Take Us for April Fools

Either Politicians Go Straight Or We Give them the Boot - Maguire
Margaret Beckett’s Three Homes on the State - Evening Standard
HSBC Gets Record £12.5 Billion Issue Away - FT
Update from the CEO of UK plc - John Redwood
Gordon’s Trillion Unravels to $100 Billion - FT
Lefties Feel Threatened by the Internet - Dan Hannan
Lessons of the Hannan Viral Sensation - The Economist
Jacqui Hits All-Time Polling Low - PoliticsHome
Palace Snub for Jacqui Smith - Evening Standard
New Advert Targets Smith Over Expenses - Guardian

MONDAY, APRIL 6, 2009

Politicians Take Us for April Fools

Cameron, Clegg and Brown now say they will meet to discuss reforms of MP’s expenses - even though the last set of  “reforms” came into force only six days ago on April Fool’s Day.  It isn’t hard to see that first and foremost any measure that increases the income of MPs is not acceptable.

Guido’s inbox is over-flowing with evidence of politician’s financial fiddles.  High and low, Labour, Tory and LibDem alike.  Front bench, back bench, Peers of the Realm, left, right and centre.  They are nearly all at it.

Britain is in a recession verging on a depression, millions are hard-up. Yet politicians are becoming millionaires at the expense of the public.  How can they explain how someone who has never had a job in the productive part of the economy can become a millionaire?  They already have an all-in-package worth some £115,000* a year.  Despite already making five times average earnings they still want a pay rise.  How can they justify this greed?

This level of looting of the public purse by supposed  public servants is grand larceny. It is on such a scale that we cannot possibly contemplate MPs themselves deciding on their own reforms.  The Speaker’s fix which saw them change the Green Book’s rules is an absolute insult.  How did they decide to tackle MP’s defrauding the taxpayer and claiming expenses that broke the rules? They scrapped the rules.  What was once financial fraud now becomes permissable. If you take the time to compare the old Green Book and the new Green Book(the April Fool’s Day reforms) you will see that instead of tightening things up, they have loosened things up.  Spitting in the faces of taxpayers who can do nothing because all the lawmakers are at it.

The revised “Green Book” is a licence for larceny:
‘The Green Book 2009′ : A Guide to Members’ allowances
‘The Green Book 2006′ : Parliamentary Salaries, Allowances and Pensions

They must think we are idiots - for them it is “Carry on Fiddling”, except it is no longer a fiddle, it is an entitlement within the rules.

*£115,00 is the pre-tax equivalent of all claimable personal permissable allowances. Do no be confused by MPs arguing speciously that most of their expenses are for staff. That amount is not included in the £115,000 figure. Bear in mind that a huge number of MPs also employ spouses, children, mistresses and cronies.