I am a Labour voter, a Labour supporter and I do not regret my vote.

[CurlewKate]

However, I think that Starmer has been incredibly stupid and/or very badly advised over this expenses issue. He has done nothing wrong, but his behaviour is not what he led us to believe he would do, and I am incredibly exasperated and disappointed.

In my opinion, he should admit that he made a massive misjudgement, and agree to take no more freebies from now on.

Apart from anything else anything which allows people to say "They are all as bad as each other" (they aren't) is a distraction from the real issues the country faces. He should be laser focussed on repairing the damage caused by 14 years of Tory misrule. Not scrambling around dealing with peripheral stuff.
Starmer-say sorry. Don't do it again. And get back to work.

Would that be the investigation that Rayner called for?

Yes.

Yes they can, in Labours case we know who gave them this money, however that doesn't make it right, so i disagree with McFaddon.

Goldsmiths Villa appears to be part of something where we don't know who owns what.

Similar to Jenriks £75k, we've no idea where that money has come from, Putin? Xi? who knows?

Do you support this donation?

All is good then, Boris gets to restore his good name and Rayner makes a political point.

iwishihadknownmore
Similar to Jenriks £75k, we've no idea where that money has come from, Putin? Xi? who knows?
Do you support this donation?

What do Xi or Putin want in return? Perhaps they should all return suspicious donations? Labour now has the power to clamp down on such things;

https://news.sky.com/story/three-top-labour-mps-face-calls-to-return-hundreds-of-thousands-of-pounds-donated-by-single-company-12783809

I hope they do and expenses too, no reason for an MP to be claiming heating costs, no "normal" person WFH can claim for their heating and energy costs.

No reason for MPs to be given money from anyone, it all just adds to the "pigs and troughs" narrative, they can claim expenses for their staff and running costs.

Whats your view on the 75k?

Whats your view on the 75k?

On Sunday, Labour wrote to the Electoral Commission asking for an investigation

I look forward to reading the outcome of any investigation.

Lol! Sitting on that fence will give you sores.

If you re not a politician, you bloody well should be!!!

Surely you can make up your own mind...

Very few “normal” people have to run two homes. Or employ staff to do their job properly. I have no problem with an MP living further than, say, 50 miles from London claiming expenses for their second rented home.

Don't need to be running two homes, they can do what other people who work away do and stay in a hotel.

I did say they can, of course, claim for staffing costs etc.

Most MPs, who aren't London based, need to be in London all the time, an exception for ministers, who may well find it cheaper and more secure for a rented property.

But hardly evidence that he is a potential "womaniser" in his 60s!!!

Op I couldn’t care less whether he is or not, but nonetheless not everyone shuts up shop in their 60s.

And who’s going to pay for the hotel that would undoubtably cost more? Have you seen the price of central London hotels? Those “normal people” working away from home aren’t paying their own expenses.

Out of London MPs should spend around half their time in their constituency. Obviously Farage hasn’t got that memo.

Well, that also applies to rented houses, '000s per month, plus CT, energy etc etc.

A greater london hotel can be booked for far less and claimed back, as many MPs already do.

A rented 2nd home is going to be left empty for 2/3rds of the year.

That clearly isn’t true. Unless you really think parliament doesn’t sit for eight months of the year. Which contradicts your earlier statement that Most MPs, who aren't London based, need to be in London all the time.

@Barbadossunset "Op I couldn’t care less whether he is or not, but nonetheless not everyone shuts up shop in their 60s"

? Starmer is in his 60s now! The time we are discussing.

? Starmer is in his 60s now! The time we are discussing.

Sorry, I don’t understand this. Do you mean, which is what I thought you meant, that he is unlikely to be a womaniser now, in 2024, that he’s in his 60s?

@Barbadossunset There was discussion downthread about the possibility that Starmer might have committed some sexual indiscretion. Another poster pointed out that there was a rumour he had cheated on a long term girlfriend at the age of 30. I said that hardly seemed groonds for him doing something similar over 30 years later when he was in his 60s. I hope this longwinded post clarifies what appears to be a pretty inconsequential point.

Thank you Op, I’ve understood now.

We've all seen the debates, sometimes important ones, where the commons has few MPs attending, MPs dont all go there when parliament is sitting.

I just don't think my MP should have an expensive london property, at tax payers expense, available to them, a modest 1 bed apartment could easily be 3 or 4k per month, plus expenses, so 55k per year? thats a lot of hotel rooms.
Actually, it would be far more, as they'd furnish it and they wouldn't be going on market place to do this.

Correct, MPs don't need to be in London all the time.

@iwishihadknownmore To be fair-MPs don't only work in the HofC.

They should have a block of flats for MPs- like student flats. Difficult to police I guess. Most do need somewhere else if they cannot commute but I don’t see why the state doesn’t provide it. Then no expenses. Also pay salaries for constituency staff. An agreed number and pay scale. They do far more work on legislation and sitting on committed than actually debating,

'They do far more work than debating.' BBC channel 232, BBC Parliament. Sometimes live from HoC when there aren't many of them there, but sometimes it shows the committee work.

How many people would be prepared to stand for parliament if they had to live in a student flat? The insane stuff people come up with here …

@BIossomtoes I am amusing myself by margining the Honorable Member for Edgejy Northfleet gloomily cooking a single sausage over a candle in a damp bedsit....

Margining=imagining.