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?

[quote Nohomemadecandles]@jcyclops The Fail are gonna be gutted you did the maths and didn't just get wound up by the headline!

@VinylDetective Uh huh.
I wouldn't do a job that took me away from my home & family for several nights a week for nothing, onerous or not. I suspect you wouldn't want to pay for your own travel to do it for nothing either. Principles need common sense or they're fantasy.[/quote]
Doing it for nothing doesn’t involve paying your own expenses. And I’d happily do it for nothing. I live close enough to Westminster to come home every night. 🤷‍♀️

YADNBU

@Heidi1976 that's not true. My wages were cut to 90% for a fair few months last year and I worked my normal hours. Lots of employers have slashed wages this year

[quote CorianderBee]@Heidi1976 that's not true. My wages were cut to 90% for a fair few months last year and I worked my normal hours. Lots of employers have slashed wages this year[/quote]
I didn't realise that was happening! That's appalling.

[quote Heidi1976]@CrazyCatLazy Why are you working full time on 80% wages? You are either furloughed or you aren't?[/quote]
I’m not furloughed, we all took a temporary pay cut ‘for the good of the company’. Basically to keep it afloat

£6 per week is the going rate. If you are wfh and your.company is not compensating, apply to tax office for your tax free amount.

YANBU but for me it does raise an interesting point - my employer is seeking to make it so we permanently work from home and this does indeed mean that all employees will essentially take on some of the business costs (I.e paying their own increased rates of gas & elec)

@louisejxxx

YANBU but for me it does raise an interesting point - my employer is seeking to make it so we permanently work from home and this does indeed mean that all employees will essentially take on some of the business costs (I.e paying their own increased rates of gas & elec)

Surely they’ll also lose commuting costs?

This CF is no longer an MP but they will take take take if they can. Claiming for adult children.
metro.co.uk/2019/05/11/mps-claiming-expenses-dependent-children-actually-adults-9497919/

£84,000 is a high wage and quite a few of them don't work for it.

@Whydontpeoplegetit Which MPs would you say then don't work for the money they earn? I accept there are more than a few in the House of Lords that do pretty much nothing, but your opening post was about MPs (i.e. Members of Parliament). Which of those are you saying don't work? Don't serve their constituents, don't hold surgeries, don't deal with any local issues, don't attend the House of Commons either in person or virtually, ever? Which MPs are you talking about please?

[quote Whydontpeoplegetit]@VinylDetective Thanks for providing an alternative source as the Daily Mail seems to have offended quite a few people.

I admit that I got it wrong that not all the expenses were on electricity and gas. My point is that they've claimed £9.1m when there are people struggling. Children are going hungry (because they voted for it and then did a U-turn when they got guilted into it), NHS workers are underpaid and will be suffering long-term from dealing with this pandemic, not to mention other front line workers such as teachers, shop floor workers, police officers and care workers as well as others.

I find it hard to justify them claiming anything when so many people are suffering and they're harping on at us that we all need to make sacrifices and we're all in this together to protect the NHS and save lives. £84,000 is a high wage and quite a few of them don't work for it.

I just can't bear seeing the meagre lunches children are getting and hearing about how the NHS, some self-employed who don't qualify for the furlough payments, other people who have been made redundant and front line workers are struggling to pay the bills and they've been wasting taxpayer money like £26m to some Spanish guy to source PPE for the NHS back in the first lockdown and all that money on track and trace that doesn't work and now this. [/quote]
My post above refers to the 3rd paragraph of this post

The trough is there, and pigs will feed from it.

They can't help themselves.

@JovialNickname

£84,000 is a high wage and quite a few of them don't work for it.

@Whydontpeoplegetit Which MPs would you say then don't work for the money they earn? I accept there are more than a few in the House of Lords that do pretty much nothing, but your opening post was about MPs (i.e. Members of Parliament). Which of those are you saying don't work? Don't serve their constituents, don't hold surgeries, don't deal with any local issues, don't attend the House of Commons either in person or virtually, ever? Which MPs are you talking about please?

Mine. No surgeries pre covid, doesn’t deal with local issues, doesn’t have a home or educate his kids here, rarely speaks in the Commons. Basically he ghosts us.

The trough is there, and pigs will feed from it.They can't help themselves.

This is true, they enjoy heavily subsidised fine dining in the HOC restaurant, claim pennies for journeys. Take take take.

Hi @Whydontpeoplegetit everyone is allowed to claim. If you’re going to be pissed off at them, be pissed off at everyone who does it. I personally haven’t. Too much hassle and you don’t get much back. I’m saving so much on travel that I don’t feel I should, but I accept why people would want to

@FrangipaniBlue

If this is true then it's shocking. I work for a government body and we were told we couldn't claim anything.

IT equipment was provided and if needed a proper office chair but that's it.

Nothing towards extra heat or light or "office costs".

The reason we were told we couldn't claim anything? Because we're a government body and it's taxpayers money.

Umm......

Tax relief is a right. If you meet the requirements it doesn't matter who you work for it has to be incorporated in your code