Sbradley

I thought I'd seen it all and that, as a tired cynical old journalist, there was nothing left that would shock me.

I was mistaken, it seems.

St Gerry of Adams and Martin McGuinness, those two well known men of peace whose high moral principles preclude them from actually getting off their self righteous thinly disguised terrorist scumbag backsides and representing the people who were deluded enough to vote for them in parliament, claimed, wait for it, around £110,000 EACH in expenses last year.

WHAT IN THE NAME OF CHRIST DID THEY DO TO WARRANT THAT?

I'm sorry but I am speechless. We should have shot the *******s when we had a chance.

SB

Turbohot

Shows it dunnit?
Disgusting fairdos. where all the bills are rising skyhigh for general public,They are claiming just the expenses of that kind
God saves Great Britain..............

mart360

piggys at the trough

now wait for labour moral righteous brigade to kick off



LOL



Mart

David Lock

Agree - I think it absolutely STINKS.... Sorry - feel strongly about this one.

fast bloke

the 110k covers flights to and from the next/last/first/latest round of peace talks - Tony Blair gets flown in by the military, but Gerry and Martin have to use Easyjet, cos there is no way they are getting a lift with the army

(nah - in all honesty Tony gives it to them as an allowance so they can ease up on 'protection' - btw - If you never hear from me again, can someone show this post to special branch )

Sbradley

I think the Army should give them a lift.

Halfway.

Anyway, aren't all the rollover, sorry I mean peace, talks being held in Stormont anyway? So presumably that's £110K of black cab fares. Each. Because of course as men of the people (they are, you know. Popular and well loved, too) they couldn't possibly drive themselves...

SB, still fuming.

Leslie

Shameful money grubbing affair. Good way to get the maximum possible without paying tax on the allowances. The more they get of course, the more likely they are to toe the party line in order to keep their lucrative jobs. Yes I know they all get the cash, but that has no effect on them doing what they are told.

Les

Brit_in_Japan

Shock horror, knee-jerk, ill informed opinions from scoobynetters - again!

Before everyone gets out of their pram about these expenses, perhaps you should consider what those expenses are for. Each MP gets hundreds of letters each week, and each letter has to be opened, read and answered. That is a lot of work. Therefore each MP has to run an office. I don't just mean a four walled space, but one which has staff and equipment. Do you think staff are cheap? What do you think it costs to employ say 4 staff? If average pay was £20k each that immediately takes you up to £80k. Could you get good experienced staff for that type of money I wonder? Now add in computers, fax machines, photocopiers, stationary, stamps. I bet their postage bill alone is into 4 figures annually. I would guess mobile phones are a necessity in their jobs so add them in too. They have to travel between their constituencies and the Houses of Parliament and they also need to travel around their constituencies, so there are a lot of travelling costs. Most MP's have to have a second residence in London because it is simply to far to commute on a daily basis, so add the cost for housing & utilities into the equations too. Now tell me truthfully, is £110,000 looking like an outrageous average?

Now that their expenses are being made public MPs will be increasingly accountable and questions will be asked of any MP whose expenses are noticeably out of step with his neighbouring MPs. Overall I'm actually surprised the overage cost of running an office is not higher.

Sbradley's original question was specifically about the expenses of the Sinn Fein MPs who do not go to Westminster. I would agree it leaves a bad taste in the mouth that they can claim these expenses even though they do not take up their seats in parliament, but clearly they are not breaking any rules and they would no doubt claim they are representing the views of their consituents and serving them in other ways.

the moose

This was discussed on a previous thread. I added that my own business support costs, excluding rent, are of the order of £60k per annum - it's just the cost of doing business. Clearly, there are areas where costs could and should be cut, and the thought that an MP who lives less than 50 miles from London warrants a second home "to make it easier to get to and from the Palace" seems ludicrous.

Then again, when sittings last all night, trying to get back to, say, Milton Keynes, would be a real sod. The real question is why they have to have all-night sittings - most commercial business functions very well during normal-ish operating hours, with the occasional overnighter needed. So why not change the operating procedures of the Commons to make it more in line with real life?

McGuinness and Adams may not be your favourite people, but guess what? The people who voted for them are happy enough, and if they can manage with an MP who states up front that he won't attend parliament, so be it.