Local MP’s and their expenses

This is always a hot topic but I don’t have much issue with it nowadays. MP’s need to run a constuency office, pay staff and pay for london based accommodation (whether they are at it or not). The days of duck pond moats are long gone, and any transfers ins are usually found under scrutiny

people often seem to think MPs get paid enough to pay their own expenses which is daff. The idea is to allow anyone to be an MP, not just those that can afford it. London travel is bound to be down but there will have been othern costs in their place although 8k for Covid leaflets seems excessive and suspect it was more a conservative puff-piece
 
I agree and feel that they should be paid much more as that would mean more would see it as an attractive career options - not just those who can afford to do it.
It’s interesting that that the highest claimants are of a particular colour
 
TheFair86 said:
This is always a hot topic but I don’t have much issue with it nowadays. MP’s need to run a constuency office, pay staff and pay for london based accommodation (whether they are at it or not). The days of duck pond moats are long gone, and any transfers ins are usually found under scrutiny

people often seem to think MPs get paid enough to pay their own expenses which is daff. The idea is to allow anyone to be an MP, not just those that can afford it. London travel is bound to be down but there will have been othern costs in their place although 8k for Covid leaflets seems excessive and suspect it was more a conservative puff-piece
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I get that fair I have no issues with any of that but when they are buying second homes in London for when they attend parliament I think is stretching it a bit especially when they can commute easily from slough or Oxford.
It would be cheaper to use taxpayers money buy somewhere which can be used as safe accommodation for any MP attending parliament Instead of paying a mortgage, council tax & furniture on a multi million £££ house In central London.
Fiddling expenses Is still a big problem among MP's & its rife in all parties they are still taking the p**s tjey have just got better at hiding it.
 
Corcaigh_the_Cat said:
Accommodation should be provided for those living out of commuter distance. A hall of residence type of building. It's not as if they're there permanently.
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These people run the country, the job needs to be attractive to those that are going to do it. I wouldn't take a job that meant I was staying in a halls of residence for up to half a year, so no idea why someone applying for an 80-90k+ a year role would. We need to stop expecting people in key positions to be living £10 above the working class because its not realistic.

This would also make those halls of residences a key target so would require very expensive security and be an expensive building to own and run.
Juan-sheet said:
Fiddling expenses Is still a big problem among MP's & its rife in all parties they are still taking the p**s tjey have just got better at hiding it.
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not so sure it is, there are some exceptions but expenses are now heavily scrutinised by committee, the press and members of the public so its a lot harder compared to before.
Juan-sheet said:
I get that fair I have no issues with any of that but when they are buying second homes in London for when they attend parliament I think is stretching it a bit especially when they can commute easily from slough or Oxford.
It would be cheaper to use taxpayers money buy somewhere which can be used as safe accommodation for any MP attending parliament Instead of paying a mortgage, council tax & furniture on a multi million £££ house In central London.
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MP's cant claim mortgage payments on second homes on expenses. They can claim hotel accommodation, or rent somewhere, or if they own a london home they can claim associated expenses of up to 8k. London MP's cant claim this, but receive the London living allowance for London based costs.
 
Corcaigh_the_Cat said:
Accommodation should be provided for those living out of commuter distance. A hall of residence type of building. It's not as if they're there permanently.
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Exactly it wouldn't even have to be just a basic room they could provide a flat with mod cons which is theirs as long as they remain MP's.
Im sure a few blocks of flats could be converted for decent accommodation with decent security for them it would save the taxpayers millions
 
A hotel is a 'hall of residence'. It doesn't have to be basic and it would be no more of a risk than the Houses of Parliament currently are.
 
Corcaigh_the_Cat said:
A hotel is a 'hall of residence'. It doesn't have to be basic and it would be no more of a risk than the Houses of Parliament currently are.
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they can already claim hotel expenses, and many do, so how is this going to be any cheaper? Are you suggesting we buy and own the hotel? If so how do you vet other guests seeing as it would be full of high value targets? If it was public I don’t think many eluod want the security arrangements vs a premier inn. Plus staff costs, paying for it when it’s vacant, business rates, doing it up and maintaining it etc

Are you suggesting we don’t pay for security in Houses of Parliament? The cost of adding security to such an arrangement would be more than just paying the current vitro allowance and spread out the locations of MP’s.
 
TheFair86 said:
they can already claim hotel expenses, and many do, so how is this going to be any cheaper? Are you suggesting we buy and own the hotel? If so how do you vet other guests seeing as it would be full of high value targets? If it was public I don’t think many eluod want the security arrangements vs a premier inn. Plus staff costs, paying for it when it’s vacant, business rates, doing it up and maintaining it etc

Are you suggesting we don’t pay for security in Houses of Parliament? The cost of adding security to such an arrangement would be more than just paying the current vitro allowance and spread out the locations of MP’s.
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Long term thinking required. I'm sure it would be cheaper to build and run a non profit establishment than to rent hotel rooms, that's including security.
 
Corcaigh_the_Cat said:
Long term thinking required. I'm sure it would be cheaper to build and run a non profit establishment than to rent hotel rooms, that's including security.
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Blatantly wouldn’t, we’d be paying property costs, full time staff, full time security, rates, it would be expensive to run, maintain and keep up to date. It would be an increased security risk as people would know where MP’s are when sitting in parliament and they would be concentrated in one place so securing a site like that round the clock would be far from cheap.

how many businesses pay expenses or pay hotel costs as and when needed vs buying houses or apartments in the capital? And that’s without the need for security and staff.
 
TheFair86 said:
Blatantly wouldn’t, we’d be paying property costs, full time staff, full time security, rates, it would be expensive to run, maintain and keep up to date. It would be an increased security risk as people would know where MP’s are when sitting in parliament and they would be concentrated in one place so securing a site like that round the clock would be far from cheap.

how many businesses pay expenses or pay hotel costs as and when needed vs buying houses or apartments in the capital? And that’s without the need for security and staff.
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Does it have to be in central London?
If MP's within commuter distance can do it why can't they?

Jam69 I agree with that too if your an MP then you should be concentrating on working for your constituents and not lining you & your mates pockets.
 
jam69 said:
Pay them more and bar them from any other work, paid or unpaid whilst in office
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yep I do in some ways agree with this, but the issue is again that makes it a barrier for entry for the non-wealthy. I would love to get paid for being an MP for a few years, but if you're literally giving up all business interests and other work only for an election to get called a year later and you are suddenly unemployed, the rich can absorb that but the less well off would certainly struggle to return to normality. There should be limits though and all these donation rackets should be highly illegal
Juan-sheet said:
Does it have to be in central London?
If MP's within commuter distance can do it why can't they?

Jam69 I agree with that too if your an MP then you should be concentrating on working for your constituents and not lining you & your mates pockets.
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even outside of central London, the cost of owning and running a hotel for MP's with staff, food facilities, security etc will be more than just paying occasional hotel bills. they do not spend the entire year in London, so there would need to be enough rooms for all MP's for when parliament is at full capacity, but it would be operating far below that capacity depending on what is going on, so fairly wasteful. This would make it one of the largest hotels in the country. even outside of London, the cost of building, staffing, securing and maintaining that building is going to be obscene. realistically its never going to happen, and it hasn't happened for all of the above reasons.
 
TheFair86 said:
yep I do in some ways agree with this, but the issue is again that makes it a barrier for entry for the non-wealthy. I would love to get paid for being an MP for a few years, but if you're literally giving up all business interests and other work only for an election to get called a year later and you are suddenly unemployed, the rich can absorb that but the less well off would certainly struggle to return to normality. There should be limits though and all these donation rackets should be highly illegal

even outside of central London, the cost of owning and running a hotel for MP's with staff, food facilities, security etc will be more than just paying occasional hotel bills. they do not spend the entire year in London, so there would need to be enough rooms for all MP's for when parliament is at full capacity, but it would be operating far below that capacity depending on what is going on, so fairly wasteful. This would make it one of the largest hotels in the country. even outside of London, the cost of building, staffing, securing and maintaining that building is going to be obscene. realistically its never going to happen, and it hasn't happened for all of the above reasons.
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If they get paid enough they can buy thier own bloody food😬
If it was accommodation they get while as a serving MP they wouldn't need staff to look after them they could look after themselves just security staff.
I think it would be more cost effective for the tax payer so I guess we will just have to agree to disagree
 
uncle_rico said:
Considering he already lives in London, not sure why David Lammy‘s are so consistently high?
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He doesn't claim accommodation costs. His major expenses are staffing costs that have been approved due to the high case load in a deprived area.
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He doesn’t claim accommodation costs any more. Yep he’s such a special case. He’s not alone though, many MP’s from all parties are still milking it. Lammy is lucky that he got away with it in 2009.
 
uncle_rico said:
He doesn’t claim accommodation costs any more. Yep he’s such a special case. He’s not alone though, many MP’s from all parties are still milking it. Lammy is lucky that he got away with it in 2009.
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If it’s staff, and he is in the most deprived constituency, how is that milking it? Is he expected to pay staff out of his own wage?
 
TheFair86 said:
If it’s staff, and he is in the most deprived constituency, how is that milking it? Is he expected to pay staff out of his own wage?
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Is he in the most deprived constituency? How does it compare to other parts of the U.K. for poverty, unemployment, drug abuse, domestic abuse, sexual abuse, mental health problems etc etc?

He was milking having a second home despite living about half an hour from Westminster until the exposure in 2009. He got away with that. A leopard doesn’t change its spots as they say. He has very little integrity.

I’m singling him out because he claims to be holier than thou, but he’s probably no different to most other MP’s.
 
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