If this hadnt been "eposed" would she be so open about it ?

[bazwillrun]

http://www.telegraph....fellow-Labour-MP.html

not in a million years, these MPs will never get it to coin the phrase

mind you £1500pm rent on a £500pm mortgage ?!!! , wish i could get that sort of return on my properties

[bazwillrun]

that should read Exposed, i really should concentrate more, I'm going to blame it on the kids boisterous activities this evening

[FredPuli43]

It would be sensible to give MPs a proper salary to start with; this is why there was a blind eye turned to expenses, the government of the day not wanting to be seen to be giving pay rises to MPs. But that said, there will always be greedy people who'll rook the system, and this is one of them. Can't really see why any tightening of rules is necessary. What this one did must be prima facie false accounting or fraud . It amounts to a dishonest false statement for gain, surely.

[LazyGun]

Prior to the change in the rules and the formation of IPSA, we had the unedifying spectacle of a significant proportion of our "honourable" MPs flipping houses so they could claim expenses to tart them up, cover the mortgage interest payments etc. This allowed many to build up quite a property portfolio at the taxpayers expense.

When IPSA was formed and the rules changed, they tried to address this issue, but they left a loophole, which is what this MP and the other 20 or so appear to be exploiting.

You have to think that no, such practices are unlikely to change unless they are exposed in this fashion. This is, amongst other things, one of the reasons I would like to see a right of recall for our MPs, to hold them more properly to account - but it appears the government are now backsliding on the implementing such a proposal.

[baza]

how does the saying go, oh yes , once an MP always a fiddler.
She would not admit anything until exposed, a true politician.

[bazwillrun]

"It would be sensible to give MPs a proper salary to start with; this is why there was a blind eye turned to expenses,"

I wouldnt entirely agree with you on that, they considered it a perk of the job thats why a blind eye was turned.

Problem is if you have a flat rate salary , you have some MPs who really do "work"for the money and others for whom its a jolly good wheeze and easy money for not turning up to the house etc etc.

they all seem to have a pretty good standard of living and property portfolios of differing sizes, so they dont seem to be doing that badly...oh hang on but a lot of that is "fiddled"