To think this MP is an utter hypocrite?

[Hospedia]

www.northumberlandgazette.co.uk/news/politics/blyth-town-council-blasted-for-spending-ps15000-on-mayoral-chains-amid-cost-of-living-crisis-3782129

TL;DR local (Labour) mayor proposed to spend £15,000 on mayoral chains. Local MP (Conservative) has kicked off about it, making lots of SM posts trying to whip up anger, and now is in the local press about it.

I agree it's tone deaf and wasteful to spend so much on some chains but this particular MP claimed over £240,000 in expenses last year (the highest claim of all MPs or close to it), it is suspected (but not confirmed) that his wife is on his payroll, and he has consistently voted against measures to support people with the cost of living (including voting against the UC uplift and the extension of FSM).

He is rumoured to be a rather unpleasant person too and more than one business in town has barred him from premises. He also has form for blocking constituents from contacting him if they either voted Labour or have disagreed with any of his decisions - the ability to view his SM pages, get replies to emails, and seek MP support are only for known supporters.

AIBU to think he is a massive hypocrite and has no recourse to complain about the opposition riding the gravy train when he's the lead fucking passenger on that train?

Different gravy trains. And I imagine £15k is a big chunk of the town council’s annual budget too. It’s a good thing the decision is being reviewed.

I thought it might be my MP (I live in Northumberland and also have a Conservative MP) but it looks like there are several with double standards in the region!

My local MP, an absolute waste of space.

Actually it's not. Crap MPs with poor local reputations are abviously common up here.

My MP claims 219k and employs his partner.

Most MPs are hypocrites, they claim for every little thing going, despite in many cases being millionaires.

However, Ian Levy MP is a liar, boasted he was a MH nurse for 30 years... but was in fact a healthcare assistant.

I assume the chains will last for many years? and contribute to the local history of the town, some spending has to continue

His own brother gave an interview calling him a waste of space so its probably accurate.

To be fair in terms of expenses this chain costs less than we pay for my MP to have Polish lessons each year. Quite why someone who was born in Poland to Polish parents needs Polish lessons...

MPs are paid way too much. My MP does literally NOTHING for me personally. I have emailed her a couple of times about Boris’s partying to be met with a reply saying she couldn’t possibly comment as she wasn’t there.
Its civil servants who run the country and do the actual work.
MPs should stop being awarded big pay rises and salaries and the money should be paid to people who are actually useful eg teachers, NHS, council workers.

When you have a Tory Prime Minister as corrupt as the one we have, and two candidates to replace him who supported his corruption and criminal behaviour - everything pales into semi significance

I have looked at this MPs claims and most of it is for travel. Which is fairly inevitable for MPs who live so far away from London. He may pay his spouse to work for him. Many MPs do , including Jess Phillips whose husband was a lift engineer before being paid to run her office.

I don’t actually see how him claiming for travel and accommodation is related to a council spending loads of money for jewellery.
the fact that councillors on all
sides opposed it also suggests it was a frivolous proposal.

Blyth is an absolute shit hole, that money could have used for many better things mainly fumigation

I have looked at this MPs claims and most of it is for travel

£180,000 of it is for staffing. A constituent made a FOI request about how many staff he employs and for what and it's been ignored.

And I agree with you about Blyth town centre, it's a ghost town with more boarded up shops than anything else, shopping centre with around three shops open in it, and desperately needs a relief road along with modernisation. It drags the test of the area down.

The MP is doing his job on this issue though. £15000 on mayoral chains in the midst of a cost of living crisis is ridiculous and tone deaf and all of the other parties on the Council, other than Labour, voted against it.

I live in Northumberland too and these small towns are full of bully boy and girl councillors who have made a nice living out of being unopposed or because the constituents are too timid or too gullible to stand up to them. My town has a husband and wife pair whose ambitions reside no bigger than the local council and local politics, which they exploit to their profit. Horrible people who bully anyone that disagrees with them. They love wearing those chains of office and robes and so on and they like to rule their own little self-granted fiefdom. Its quite farcical and I wish we had someone here who would stand up to them and publicise their awful behaviour.

I should imagine that blocking rude or abusive posters on social media is far for the course and its well known that this particular MP received threats. The occasional falling out with a local business might be for good reason. What this MP is known for is supporting jobs and businesses in the local area by being actively involved in returning local rail services to Blyth and a local bypass.

He is rumoured to be a rather unpleasant person too Rumours, eh?

I don't really see why he shouldn't be speaking to the local press about this issue. If he doesn't, who will?

Hi Ian! 👋

Or are you one of the social media managers he has? The ones who pretend to be local residents so they can join the FB groups in order to big him up?

For goodness sake. I live in Berwick-Upon-Tweed. I am a woman. I don't even vote conservative (but LibDem). You are beginning to come across as paranoid and a little strange but you are clearly taking your local political affiliations and expecting everyone to agree with you.

He doesn't just block constituents who are making threats, they deserve to be blocked, he also blocks people simply being they're known Labour voters or because they asked questions he didn't like.

There's a chance that his Mrs is vaguely doing something resembling work. There is absolutely zero benefit to be gained from having a bunch of particularly large jewellery for a wanky portrait on the council's website.

Anyway, he's an MP. Hypocrisy's part of the job description.

One of the answers to local government fiefdoms and one party rule would be to introduce PR at local level as happens in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Yet the Tories and indeed most of the Labour party oppose this.

There haven’t been any elections for our town council for years. Nobody wants to do it. If someone volunteers they’re welcomed with open arms.

Here we go again.

Most of MPs' expenses pay for their staff, office, stationery etc.

It's not cash in hand.

In this climate, why TF spend £15k on mayoral chains?!

Not commenting because she wasn't there sounds fair enough to me. You sound like one of those nuisance constituents that parliamentary staffers sigh at when they recognise your name

@roarfeckingroarr could you explain why it was necessary for a Tory MP to claim £22,000 expenses for Polish lessons?

it is suspected (but not confirmed) that his wife is on his payroll

I don't see how that claim can be true - MPs were banned from employing family members in 2017 (unless already employed) - the MP in the op's link was first elected in December 2019.