Should MPs travel 1st class?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.dailymail....vel-rest-economy.html

/// That puts us below local councillors and officers of local government. They all travel first-class. Majors in the Army travel first class.///

Pompous twit.

I don't think any public servant should travel 1st class, unless of course it is at their expense.

I was unaware that Majors now travel 1st class, or even travel free of charge, but I do think that forces that have been on active service should be given free travel, just as I believe they should not pay tax while on active duty..

[redman41]

The Mail should be renamed 'The Right Wing Gazeteer' and a Public Health Warning put on the Front Page like they do on Packets of Cigarettes.

[jno]

they can travel first-class if they like, just not at my expense. If he's a grandee, whatever that is, he must have a few bob put by? I do have some slight sympathy with 70-year-olds having to stand while 20-year-old oiks sit, but that's British tradition for you.

[R1Geezer]

Public servants should use cattle truck only with the possible exception of the Queen and the PM!

[redcrx]

travel how they want, but pay from their own wages.

local councillors use their own transport. Or at least they do here.

[anotheoldgit]

redman41

The MP that the Mail is criticising is Tory, if you hadn't noticed.

Unlike some of the Left-Wing press it isn't slanted, in it's reporting.

[craft1948]

The public pays for nearly all first-class travellers. The London to York first class is full of businessmen who get this as a perk of the job.

[youngmafbog]

I'm not sure all first class passengers to New York are businessmen. Business class maybe but not firstI have only travelled first class to NY on one occasion when being upgraded from business.

I think it depends on the travel. In Europe there is no excuse but believe me the Eurostar premier is full of snout in the trough euro MP's and their entourages. However travelling to NY especially if going for 2 days of solid meetings is probably worthwhile. It is no luxury within business believe me as no time is ever given for personal time in another country. MP's are probably differnt but then you have to question any travel outside the UK.

ALL travel in the UK and Eurozone should be cattle class. I am no longer allowed premier to Bruxelles due to the banking industry tightening their belts so MP's on public money should alos tighten theirs. Highly unlikley they will of course.

[craft1948]

who mentioned New York?

[jno]

don't confuse York and New York, ymb. One is in America, the other not.

I don't have a problem with MPs commuting between Westminster and their constitutencies at my expense; otherwise, as with expenses generally, only the rich will be able to enter Parliament. But the notion of an MP outraged at having to travel with The Public is amusing.

[anotheoldgit]

jno

/// I don't have a problem with MPs commuting between Westminster and their constitutencies at my expense;///

How about troops home from being on active duty, on your behalf?

[craft1948]

lol he wouldn't want to travel second class on the London to Glasgow train..........it's often full of rowdy squaddies............(I think they're great 'cos they always share their lager)

[joggerjayne]

The Daily Mail "isn't slanted in it's reporting"

Nope ... I can't make any sense of those words.

Is it a cryptic puzzle?

[rov1200]

The best suggestion I have heard was on Radio 5 this morning. It was suggested MPs should be able to travel 2nd class but if they wanted they could contribute the extra themselves to go 1st class.

[joggerjayne]

MPs are not like the rest of us.

They cannot survive on their own.

eg. We ... get paid ... and buy ourselves food.

MPs ... get paid ... and WE buy their food.

So we do need to look after the poor things.

We must make them comfortable in their travelling for, without us to look after them, they will surely perish.

[Sandy-Wroe]

Doesn't everybody travel first class?

[joggerjayne]

Only on aircraft, LOL

[modeller]

We were told by an MEP that he always travels 2nd and tourist class and submits the receipts when he gets to Brussels but they insist on paying him for 1st class travel.
He said that was quite common among MPs and MEPs . He said all allowances were based on first class accomodation and travel whether you used them or not.

[Quinlad]

jno makes a good point.

The expenses scandal has made some people believe that any expnse claim is wrong. MPs should be able to claim back costs incurred doing their job. Travelling between their constituency and Westminster is a work-related cost and they should be reimbursed.

No need for it to be first class.

Troops should get free travel if it's a legitimate work expense. But they should be able to manage their own finances well enough to pay for their own leisure travel.

[andy-hughes]

Actually the points Sir Nick made are, in essence, valid.

There is a large difference between the people in First and Standard Class - that's simple economics, almost all FC passengers are business people who are paid for by their companies. The comapnies pay for a smoother quieter ride in a better sprung and upholstered seat, allowing their employee the twin benefits of being able to work in peace and quiet, and arrive not feeling like a wrung out rag, and therefore ready to be productive, so it's a worthwile business expense.

Sir Nicholas makes the point that Standard Class is noisy and full of children, and he would get no peace, or privacy, which for an MP is important BUT ...

being the rabidly snobbish upper class twit (sp?) that he is, he inferred that people in Standard Class are inferior and badly behaved, which from an MP, who is voted into office by those very people, is an outrageous slur on the tax-payer / voter at large, and he has been rightly dismissed as a right-wing fuddy duddy who is on the way out.

I believe that the day an MP gets First Class Travel between his / her constituency and Westminster - Day One - is the first step towards estrangement from the people they represent who cannot afford the luxury of such travel, however valid it may be.