Members of Parliament will receive a 2.3% pay rise today, taking their annual salary from £63,291 to £64,766, an increase of just under £1,500 a year. This is no April Fools joke, it really is real.
The 2007 - 2008 Members of Parliament expenses have been published this week and although the full breakdown has not yet been released (after Parliament lost a court battle to do so) the headline figures make interesting reading, in particular as two of Havering’s three M.P’s claim for a second home, yet only live less than 18 miles from Westminster, or a 40 minute train journey.
Andrew Rosindell (Romford) claimed the maximum allowed of £23, 083 for his second home on the South Bank of the Thames. Angela Watkinson (Upminster) claimed £21,234 for her Westminster flat. However, James Brokenshire (Hornchurch) claimed just £368 for costs associated with staying away from home, choosing instead to come home to his family each night.
The total amount claimed by all three M.P’s including office running costs, postage, I.T equipment and second homes allowances comes to;
Andrew Rosindell £ 152,284
Angela Watkinson £ 126,083
James Brokenshire £ 107,093
The expense claim of Romford M.P Andrew Rosindell is even higher than the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown and Conservative Leader, David Cameron.
Less than 24 hours after the claims being made public, M.P’s now want the taxpayer to increase funding to their pensions of another £800k a year. M.P’s currently pay 8% or their salary into their pension, whilst the tax payer puts in almost 29%.
The Prime Minister has announced a review looking at the whole scheme will now be speeded up; however this will not be completed until the end of the year.
M.P’s recently lost a court battle, to make their full claims public, which is only right, as it is tax payers money after all. The lists will show every penny claimed, so we will be able to see if any of our M.P’s have made claims for new T.V’s, shopping from Sainsburys, kitchen sinks and anything else you could ever dream off.
Cllr Andrew Mann said “In this day and age, it is beyond contempt that M.P’s can claim such vast amounts of tax payers money and yet hide behind secrecy rules, so nobody can see what they are claiming. It is, very much in the public eye if an M.P claims for his parents shopping, or purchase two new flat screen T.V’s, the time has come for all 600 plus M.P’s to do the decent thing and be up front about what they claim for”
“I as a Councillor at Havering and an employee of another London Council have to account for any expenses I claim for and all of them are open to public inspection. It seems the Countries rule makers are trying to make the rules suit their own end, is it any wonder residents have such a low opinion of elected representatives”
The 2007 - 2008 Members of Parliament expenses have been published this week and although the full breakdown has not yet been released (after Parliament lost a court battle to do so) the headline figures make interesting reading, in particular as two of Havering’s three M.P’s claim for a second home, yet only live less than 18 miles from Westminster, or a 40 minute train journey.
Andrew Rosindell (Romford) claimed the maximum allowed of £23, 083 for his second home on the South Bank of the Thames. Angela Watkinson (Upminster) claimed £21,234 for her Westminster flat. However, James Brokenshire (Hornchurch) claimed just £368 for costs associated with staying away from home, choosing instead to come home to his family each night.
The total amount claimed by all three M.P’s including office running costs, postage, I.T equipment and second homes allowances comes to;
Andrew Rosindell £ 152,284
Angela Watkinson £ 126,083
James Brokenshire £ 107,093
The expense claim of Romford M.P Andrew Rosindell is even higher than the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown and Conservative Leader, David Cameron.
Less than 24 hours after the claims being made public, M.P’s now want the taxpayer to increase funding to their pensions of another £800k a year. M.P’s currently pay 8% or their salary into their pension, whilst the tax payer puts in almost 29%.
The Prime Minister has announced a review looking at the whole scheme will now be speeded up; however this will not be completed until the end of the year.
M.P’s recently lost a court battle, to make their full claims public, which is only right, as it is tax payers money after all. The lists will show every penny claimed, so we will be able to see if any of our M.P’s have made claims for new T.V’s, shopping from Sainsburys, kitchen sinks and anything else you could ever dream off.
Cllr Andrew Mann said “In this day and age, it is beyond contempt that M.P’s can claim such vast amounts of tax payers money and yet hide behind secrecy rules, so nobody can see what they are claiming. It is, very much in the public eye if an M.P claims for his parents shopping, or purchase two new flat screen T.V’s, the time has come for all 600 plus M.P’s to do the decent thing and be up front about what they claim for”
“I as a Councillor at Havering and an employee of another London Council have to account for any expenses I claim for and all of them are open to public inspection. It seems the Countries rule makers are trying to make the rules suit their own end, is it any wonder residents have such a low opinion of elected representatives”
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