Publication of MPs' expenses

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7316072.stm

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An Information Tribunal ruled last month that the Commons must release a detailed breakdown of 14 MPs' claims under their Additional Costs Allowance (ACA) - under which each MP can claim up to £23,000 a year to cover costs associated with running a second home.

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As a result of the tribunal ruling, it has already been revealed that MPs can claim up to £10,000 for a new kitchen, £2,000 for furniture and £750 for a TV or stereo under the ACA, for their second homes.

Your thoughts?

I never knew they could claim for a second home. I don't see why they should be able to claim that much under the ACA and would be very interested for the findings to be released to the public, who after all are the ones paying.

I think they should be able to claim for living expenses in London IF the commute it unacceptable, but am less sure about the the expenses of decorating the homes as they would stand to profit on the sale of the property.

Yep i would tend to agree...of course they should not be out of pocket as a result of their role, no one should ever be, but paying for all this extra stuff with public money is a bit of a scandal. That said...without doing the maths, there might be an argument to say it is cheaper than living in hotels all week or serviced apartments

(I have previously worked in a company, where everything was paid for, even everything I had to buy, down to last pot and pan etc, which was a lot cheaper than staying in hotels or serviced...but then it was private sector, not public money)

I see the MP's are appealing about the info becoming public knowledge. Worried about the gravy train tipping over me thinks.

spoilt_little_brat wrote:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7316072.stm

Quote :

An Information Tribunal ruled last month that the Commons must release a detailed breakdown of 14 MPs' claims under their Additional Costs Allowance (ACA) - under which each MP can claim up to £23,000 a year to cover costs associated with running a second home.

Quote :

As a result of the tribunal ruling, it has already been revealed that MPs can claim up to £10,000 for a new kitchen, £2,000 for furniture and £750 for a TV or stereo under the ACA, for their second homes.

Your thoughts?

I never knew they could claim for a second home. I don't see why they should be able to claim that much under the ACA and would be very interested for the findings to be released to the public, who after all are the ones paying.

It might be an unpopular opinion but I think we pay our politicians far too little and they couldn't afford to do their jobs without these kind of allowances. It doesn't mean they automatically get all that - they do actually have to spend the money.

Add in the awful job security, having most of the country think they could do your job better than you can, the tabloids following you around and everyone picking fault and it would take a lot more than a 23k allowance to get me to take a job like that.