Politics

[caddyman]

I see the Speaker of the House of Commons has decided to jump before he is pushed.

I have to say that I feel a little sorry for the chap. I realise that he is in charge of the system of payment and scrutiny of MPs’ expenses and such, but he didn’t design the system. While the Speaker’s Office could and should have done more to keep an eye on MPs’ expenses, the charges levelled against him by the House of Commons seems to boil down to ”You are to blame for our lack of morals and personal honour because you didn’t make it sufficiently difficult for us to cheat the system”.

I don’t see that he’s any more to blame than those who claimed irregular expenses. If he’s to go, they should go too.

Comments

[mezzogiornouno.livejournal.com]

A broader point that doesn't appear to getting much oxygen is this: collectively, MP's expenses add up to a considerable sum. In the light of much of our legislation being produced and implemented from Brussels, does the team think taht the number of MP's in British politics is excessive, and capable of being reduced substantially? Do we any longer need 650 of them (ono)when they have increasimgly little impact on what happens in the UK today? It would have the added effect of reducing the number of claims which require scrutiny, and therefore the amount claimed.