To Archive List Page"Kenneth Clarke, the only successful Chancellor of the Exchequer in the last 15 years, thinks the public have the wrong idea about MPs. Two-thirds of them aren't scroungers, Mr. Clarke reckons. Which means there are 220 thieving criminals in the House of Commons, most of them with jobs in the labour government. "

It's only public money

MPs get a basic salary of £63,291 per year plus an exceedingly generous Final Salary pension – something which is available mainly only in the public sector.
They can also claim:

 • £100,205 per year Staffing Allowance to pay staff (commonly members of the MP's family and other relatives) and provide the staff with pensions and perks (and the MP's family with an inflated income)
 • £24,000 per year Additional Costs Allowance for running a second home; they can claim mortgage interest payments, for furnishings their second home (down to a bath plug and cable TV porn movies, in the Home Sec.'s case), cleaning bills, insurance and the cost of repairs; the scam includes designating the MP's sister's spare room or a caravan as a main home, and it is used to let MPs benefit from rising property prices and provide a nice bonus when they retire or are sacked
 • £22,193 per year for Incidental Expenses to cover accommodation, office equipment and office supplies, which is used as a way of subsidising the constituency office run by his/her political party in the MP's constituency
 • £10,000 per year Communications Allowance, which is supposed to be used for "communicating with the public on parliamentary business" but which is used for distributing party political spin and to give sitting MPs an unfair financial advantage over other candidates when an election is called
 • £250 per month from the Incidental Expenses as petty cash without producing receipts
 • £25 per night Subsistance Allowance for every night spent away from their main home without producing receipts
 • Unlimited Travel Expenses, including business class flights and first-class rain travel Parliamentary business (which is interpreted very loosely to the extent of a total lack of scrutiny), plus 3 visits per year, all expenses paid, to European institutions for fact-finding holidays, 30 single journeys per year for spouses or children (which can be stretched to mistresses and other friends), mileage of 40p/mile for the first 10,000 miles then 25p/mile for motor cars, 24p/mile for motorbikes or 20p/mile for cyclists

Taxpayer-funded By-To-Let
65 MPs have worked the Three-Home Trick; one main, one second and available for expenses claims and one rented for the MP's profit.

Andrew Walker, Director General of Resources at the House of Commons, collects an annual salary of £135K. For the last 12 years, he has just sat on his hands and let MPs get away with flagrant abuses of their expenses and endorsed corruption on a grand scale.

The Top 5 Expenses Claimants for 2007/08 are:
1. Eric Joyce (Lab) claimed £187,334
2. Michael Connarty (Lab) claimed £183,466
3. Alistair Carmichael (Lib) claimed £176,190
4. Ben Wallace (Con) claimed £175,429
5. Mohammade Sawar (Lab) claimed £174,882

Elizabeth Filkin, when Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, exposed MPs who were stealing from the taxpayer with false expenses claims. She was driven out of her job by the Westminster scroungers.

Excluding claims for travelling expenses, which are higher for MPs from the north of England, Northern Ireland & Scotland, the Top 5 Scroungers are:
1. Ann Keen (Lab) claimed £167,306
2. Fabian Hamilton (Lab) claimed £159,035
3. David Borrow (Lab) claimed £158,361
4. Ben Wallace (Con) claimed £157,599
5. Michael Connarty (Lab) claimed £156,207

John Lyon, the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner, is paid £108,0900 per year for 'shrouding his role in secrecy' and dismissing complaints about MPs without bothering to gather evidence.

The Bottom 5 MPs offering the worst value for money in terms of actually taking part in the parliamentary process are:
Charles Kennedy (Lib), attendance rate 31%
Glenda Jackson (Lab), attendance rate 27%
Derek Conway (sacked Cons), attendance rate 21%
Clare Short (Lab), attendance rate 19% and
George Galloway (No Respect), attendance rate 5%

Don't trust the Westminster Wonders;
they're only after your money

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