At the time of writing we are in the middle of May, and the expenses row that has overtaken the Houses of Parliament is rumbling on and on. And quite right too, since it would appear that we were never aware of just how much money MPs were siphoning off from the taxpayer.
A lot of the claims concern MPs houses – both their designated homes and their second homes – and what they have bought to put in them. Now we can understand the need in some cases to have more than one home in their case. After all Parliament is run from London and MPs have constituencies all over the country.
But do we really need to be paying for everything that goes into these MPs homes – regardless of whether it is their first or second home?
Surely it isn’t right that MPs expect the taxpayer to come up with the cash for all the items of furniture they need in those homes. And of course – as we have seen – this system is blatantly open to all kinds of abuse.
The latest news reports state that more and more MPs are paying back money that they claimed for the items of furniture they bought for their homes in the past. Tables, chairs, beds and all kinds of other furniture items have been claimed across the board by MPs from all parties over the years. And clearly now is the time that things have got to change.
No one knows exactly how things are going to change for the long term yet. But at the moment some MPs are repaying money, and there are ideas that in future it will not be possible to claim back the money they spend on some items. Furniture is thought to be one of these.
This would certainly be a good step in the right direction, as the taxpayer shouldn’t be footing the bill for how MPs live. Some say that their abuse of the rules is tantamount to fraud – and some newspapers have interviewed lawyers who have testified to this being true.
Although paying back money for furniture and other items they have claimed on is a good thing, it really is too little too late. Many MPs have claimed to have ‘discovered’ errors in their expenses only after this news story broke. The cynical among us will point to that being rather convenient. And we can sympathise with that point of view.
But one thing seems to be more and more certain. In future MPs should and will be held more accountable for their expenses. And we can surely expect them to start paying for their own furniture as well. After all the rest of us have to, so why should we foot the bill for the expensive items these MPs want to buy?
We suspect that if they do start buying their own furniture in future though, their expensive tastes will naturally be brought down a little to be more affordable.