to be angry MPs are still taking the piss on a daily basis?

[billyt]

Just read that some MPs have been 'asked' to repay fines they claimed on expenses. FFS! Why do they think that's a correct thing to do?

I know it's a pretty stupid question, but what world do these self-serving sponging idiots live in?

Report say that the payouts were incorrectly made out. But surely no other group of people would even think to claim these self-caused fines, and in what other business would the claims even get as far as being paid out?

Probably all too easy as it's our money they are spending. How the well-off get even richer at our expense (pardon the pun).

Bastards.

They seem to be simultaneously stripping the rights we have and decreasing our freedoms whilst breaking any rules they fancy at our expense.

It's scary how much democracy is decreasing day by day in our country right now.

Especially a country that was once held up world wide for its great democracy.

What kind of fines?

I get a fair few invoices across my desk where tradesmen invoice for parking fines received while doing their job (they're not parked illegally, but obviously they don't have residents permits so sometimes they get parking tickets).

If it's something like that, it seems sensible if it's part of the cost of the job.

Firstly, it says they aren't allowed to claim but they have done.

Some were for something such as not paying the Congestion charge in time! And some are repetitive offenders. The Congestion charge is one claim they are allowed to make and they can't even do that properly. And again, I suppose if they thought they could claim it back and therefore no hit to their bank account, then there's no incentive to do the proper thing.

Just another, albeit small, example of MPs concentrating on looking after number one.

30% of the population are quite happy with this situation though.

I completely agree. We're an endless source of free money for them and we have very little power to stop them spending it. Can vote a particular offender out but he/she will be replaced by another one equally as bad.

We look down our noses at eg corrupt African dictatorships but are we that different?

A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship.

The average age of the world's greatest civilizations from the beginning of history has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, these nations always progressed through the following sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith; From spiritual faith to great courage; From courage to liberty; From liberty to abundance; From abundance to selfishness; From selfishness to complacency; From complacency to apathy; From apathy to dependence; From dependence back into bondage.

Discuss 😀

It's probably not the MPs themselves who made the "mistakes". I doubt many of them do their own expenses. It'll be their admin person.
I'm not defending MPs because I too am fed up with the majority of the and collectively they do and say some stupid/awful/ridiculous things. But not so sure about this one.

On what fucking planet are you allowed to put a personal fine for an offence committed (against the very laws you impose on the country) through the books as expenses ?

You may be willing to accept that as an excuse, but I sure as hell wouldn't.

Besides, ignorance of the law is no defence. As any judge will tell you if you want to try your luck in court.

Pigs round the trough.

The quality MPs in the commons is so low that the majority of these people would never last a day in equivalent private sector jobs. As soon as many open their mouths, you can tell they are are thick, opportunistic chancers who can’t believe their luck that they landed this cushy number. Intellect, integrity, imagination, long term thinking are all alien concepts to them.

Remember when candidates come knocking in 2024 to ask them about this.

Every such offence should be a day without pay, and more than a set number mean the recall process.

People keep Voting for them knowing things like this are happening. If they knew they’d be out of office if they lied etc, they’d maybe think twice.

On what fucking planet are you allowed to put a personal fine for an offence committed (against the very laws you impose on the country) through the books as expenses?

Where did I say I agreed that this is ok? 🤷🏼‍♀️. Read my post again.

Not unreasonable to be angry, more people need to be angry.

Whilst I don’t doubt that someone else does the admin, the MP’s will have to physically hand in the appropriate receipts/documents to claim.

Speeding fines/congestion charges will have been sent to their personal registered dvla contact details.

Am with you OP they are supposed to be answerable to us. I think we should have a citizens panel to scrutinise everything including laws. They hold high office and yet despite many scandals are unable to regulate themselves therefore I would say it is the our role to hold them. To account.

I would hate to be an MP. They work
very long hours and much of it is boring stuff dealing with constituents issues like housing, potholes, nhs waiting lists. Valuable for the individual of course. It’s not all swanning around Westminster doing lunches. That said some do take the piss. But I hate comments like ‘bastards’ , ‘spongers’ etc. they get hate mail, flat on, threatened, and quite recently killed while in the midst of constituency work. it’s an unfair label to provide to an entire class of people, many who could earn much more in a so called ‘real job’