The bloody cheek of it! I'm absolutely disgusted!

[Whydontpeoplegetit]

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9181001/MPs-working-home-lockdown-charge-taxpayers-extra-gas-electricity.html

£9.1m claimed by MPs working largely from home for extra electricity and gas while the rest of the country is on 80% of their wages if not a lot less. I'm absolutely appalled that they earn £80k each and are getting a pay rise and then continue to kick us in the teeth by spending taxpayer money on stupid things. How about using the money to supply teachers with supplies that they need or giving it to the NHS to find appropriate PPE and paying your own bloody bills?!?

AIBU for feeling this way?

You are unreasonable for reading the DM, yes!

I do not see how it is justifiable in any society to permit one rule for MPs on paying tax and reclaiming expenses and another rule for the general public. Its disgusting.

I also think that the general public who are employees should be able to deduct commuting to work expenses from their tax bills, as in countries such as The Netherlands.

@Unsure33. Exactly what is your mp responsible for?
An NHS trust chairman is responsible for the smooth delivery of health care to thousands of people.

@Nohomemadecandles

You are unreasonable for reading the DM, yes!

Yep. Use credible news sources... and critical thinking.

However much someone earns is irrelevant as nobody should be expected to pay for being able to work. And the general public can also claim too, within the same guidelines.

Also, no they didn't vote to give themselves a payrise and no they didn't get an extra £10k to work from home. The claims limit was temporarily increased so that they could be submitted less frequently as clerical staff were focusing on covid. Most did not make use of it at all.

Tax free allowance of £26. Just let me get my calculator out. For a basic rate taxpayer that’s a whopping £5.20 a month or half a carrot in a food hamper.

I understood that one MP refused the payments.

If they were paid properly, we wouldn't suffer the succession of incompetent no-hopers we've had running the country for the past couple of decades.

I dislike this government intensely but a) MPs covers ALL parties and b) the article was intended to whip up froth.

Nobody was handed 10k in expenses either - even the paper that ran that (Times?) clarified that.

It hasn't occurred to me to ask for it and I doubt I'd get it. I figured that the money we spent on extra utilities was offset by not having to pay commuting costs, cheaper lunches at home and less laundry (I wear the same clothes all day instead of coming home and changing).

@GreenlandTheMovie

I do not see how it is justifiable in any society to permit one rule for MPs on paying tax and reclaiming expenses and another rule for the general public. Its disgusting.

I also think that the general public who are employees should be able to deduct commuting to work expenses from their tax bills, as in countries such as The Netherlands.

The general public can claim travel and home use costs from their employers too, as per the tax laws, eligibility rules, etc.

duck moats anybody...?

@MrsTerryPratchett

The rest of the country isn't on 80% of their wages. Only those furloughed, who aren't working.

I’ve been on 80% of my wage since March 2020 - still working full time as a “key worker”. Joyous 🙄

YANBU

MPs do bloody well on their £84000, subsidised food and drink and generous expenses. Some of them work very hard, but lots don’t. And, having given themselves several
pay rises in recent years, while the rest of us just look on, it would be nice to see a keener sense of justice.

I wouldn't do that job for all the tea in China never mind £80k

@70isaLimitNotaTarget

Whenever someone tells e how "dicusting" it is that a footballer earns £20.000 a weeks for kicking a ball about , or an MP gets £80,000 a year just to pop into the House of Commons and sign their name , I think

Well if it is that easy and that money for old rope , there's nought to stop you doing it too.
(Maybe not the football though )

Maybe whoever wrote this is happier earning less to do a job that they feel is more valuable.

They are a greedy selfish lot out for what they can get.

[quote Oreservoir]@Unsure33. Exactly what is your mp responsible for?
An NHS trust chairman is responsible for the smooth delivery of health care to thousands of people.[/quote]
That isn’t true. An NHS chairman is a non executive director and has no responsibility, they’re basically a figurehead.

It’s unbelievable how many of you are defending MPs’ salaries and expenses when so many people have lost their jobs and their savings. What a fucked up world we live in.

@Whatamesssss

Is this on top of the £10,000 they got for working from home?

They didn't get £10,000 to work from home, @Whatamesssss, just like MPs haven't claimed £9.1m for electricity and gas, as the @Whydontpeoplegetit incorrectly said in their OP.

The allowable claims limit was raised by £10,000 in case MPs needed to claim additional expenditure for them and their constituency teams to be able to work effectively from home. All claims still had to be within the rules and be scrutinised as normal. There was no lump sum of £10,000 for anyone.

And if the OP had bothered to read the article instead of just coming on here to froth about it, they'd have realised that MPs claimed £9.1m in total for all expenses during the first lockdown period (16 March to 4 July) , compared to £8.2m for the same period in 2019. This is an average of an additional £1385 per MP.

This is from The Times for anyone whose stomach is too delicate for The Fail.

Claims for electricty and heating bills increased, even though April was the sunniest on record, according to the Met Office. During that month, MPs’ electricity and heating bills came to £48,723, about 1% higher than the same month in 2019

The rising cost of working from home has raised concerns among campaigners, who claim it is one rule for MPs and another for ordinary workers. Few, if any, FTSE 100 companies have so far offered to reimburse their employees for remote working costs during lockdown.

Go and stand in the next election then!

It really doesn’t bother me at all.

They’re quite hardworking in the main. I see your source is the Daily Mail so I can only imagine how riled up you must be and absolutely angry and disgusted lol, I say calm down.

Me personally, I don’t care.

@LooseMooseHoose

Go and stand in the next election then!

Yes that would be really sensible, wouldn’t it? Object to their unlimited expenses and then stick your own nose in the trough.

@LooseMooseHoose

Go and stand in the next election then!

Not everyone can stand in the next election though can they