Jacqui Smith?

MrFonzerelli

Errata wrote: »

Apparently not, they've been investigated and cleared.
The rules don't need tightening, we need MP's who weren't off sick the day the lesson on morals, ethics and public probity was taught.

Good luck with that. Without clearly defined rules, whether an MP has morals and/or ethics is an incredibly subjective grey area, which very much depends on how good your lawyer is and who is handing out the justice.

beingjdc

Graham_Devon wrote: »

Slightly off topic for the forum, but what's happened / happening about Jacqui Smith's expenses?

The short answer is that a Tory shadow minister was found to be doing almost exactly the same thing, so between that and the fact that she hasn't broken the rules (your second home is the one where you spend least time. As a Minister she is in London Monday-Friday most weeks, and in Redditch Friday night to maybe Monday morning, so Redditch is her second home) suddenly the Tories stopped being so interested in the Jacqui Smith issue...

MrFonzerelli

chewmylegoff wrote: »

build a big student halls of residence type building next to westminster and they can stay in there for free whenever they want. if they want another house, they can pay for it themselves.

That sounds like a good solution to me.

keithboy40

Jacqui Smith is meant to set the standards for the public to follow. She is the head of the police and should be showing us the way. Instead she has shown we live in a society led by corruption and everybody is out for themselves.

Shame on you Smith.

mewbie_2

This link might be useful...

http://www.dwp.gov.uk/campaigns/benefit-thieves/benefit-theft.asp

beingjdc

MrFonzerelli wrote: »

That sounds like a good solution to me.

There've been several attempts at something like this - Vernon House in St James, Parliament View off Lambeth Bridge, and so on. It falls victim to the problem that it's always cheaper in the end to sell off the expensive London property, and carry on paying them to make their own arrangements.

The other argument, though I'm not 100% convinced of it, is that it is good for MPs to have to negotiate the minefield of the housing market, utility bills, phone suppliers, nuisance neighbours, transport facilities, and so on, to keep them in touch with the real world. Putting them into a student hall of residence with all the other MPs would make it even more of a club and less connected to ordinary voters than the present set-up.

The only practical way to do it is to convert the nuclear bunker, really.

prowla

The government are a grubby little group of money-grabbing self-serving devious meddling hypocrites with their noses firmly on the trough.
They really are scum, and deserve no respect.

lostinrates

beingjdc wrote: »

The short answer is that a Tory shadow minister was found to be doing almost exactly the same thing, so between that and the fact that she hasn't broken the rules (your second home is the one where you spend least time. As a Minister she is in London Monday-Friday most weeks, and in Redditch Friday night to maybe Monday morning, so Redditch is her second home) suddenly the Tories stopped being so interested in the Jacqui Smith issue...

I most certainly agree this is not aLabour/Tory issue, but rather a Westminster problem. That makes it no less worrying an issue IMO.

leveller2911

Rochdale_Pioneers wrote: »

It doesn't matter how you think she should be able to classify her main home - if the rules are so vaguely worded as to allow such definitions then she has done nothing wrong. If you're upset with the rules (and I know I am) then its them that should be changed.

"MP obeys the rules" isn't quite as good a story is it?

Who make the rules??????? nothing will change until things have got so bad civil unrest rears its ugly head, then when those muppets feel personally at risk because the angry mobs know where they live ,then they will change the rules.Its so sad that it will more than likely come to that.

I don,t think anyone on here can justify what MP,s get away with, we all know the score its just that some on here are so wet and PC ..You will never get turkeys voting for Christmas..End of.As for tighening up the rules, they will always create rules to have built in loop-holes...

beingjdc

lostinrates wrote: »

I most certainly agree this is not aLabour/Tory issue, but rather a Westminster problem. That makes it no less worrying an issue IMO.

I agree, but we need to work out what it's realistic to expect of them, and what it isn't. MPs, assuming they aren't claiming any of the allowances that go into their own pocket, get £3565 a month after tax.

That's not a bad wage by anyone's standards, but it's not enough to run two homes, including one in London - I get by on slightly less than half that in the average month, and I live in a miserly fashion and share a flat in a fairly grotty part of town.