Feathering the Nest

MPs, they don’t do themselves any favours do they? Well, not that we know of – officially anyway, because as you have probably seen on the news there has been a High Court bid to block publication of expense costs for living in London following an ongoing Freedom of Information (FoI) request.

Based on the reticence to publish living expenses we could think the worst and presume that each MP spent the maximum amount, say £10,000 for a new kitchen and £6,335 for a new bathroom, all the way down to a £50 shredder (government is responsible with disposing of information carefully you see). The so called John Lewis list was compiled to act as a guideline to the maximum amount MPs can claim for their second homes.

Now admittedly an envious IWR will get pulled up before the boss if we try claiming a Grande rather than regular frothy mocha-frappe-latte (or what used to be known as a large rather than normal sized coffee) but I digress, the move to block the request by the Commons has come, they say, because of security issues relating to the publishing of home addresses. Well fine, don’t publish them then if that is the case.

However address details are not the issue here, rather why the Freedom of Information Act is being ignored and undermined at every step along the way? Assume for a moment each honourable member opted to max out the limit of their allocation, what exactly is there left to reveal? The BBC report the original FoI claim for expense details was made three years ago and it has been a battle to get the information published ever since.

What we should be asking is; How long do MPs spend in the Commons to warrant a fully furnished London pad? Is a hotel ever an alternative for members who don’t or can’t attend regularly? Does their attendance in Parliament or voting record reflect the need for a permanent dwelling? If expenses from the last three years are fully published and available for public consumption the argument being mooted is that MPs will then need a subsequent pay rise – why? Just buy the stuff and declare it. Stop hiding this information and be straight. It’s not as if MPs are expected to endure the IKEA experience at the weekend.

Have a look on www.theyworkforyou.com to see what activity your MPs past and present have been up to. Let us know what the results are. MPs will inevitably claim from the country more than the occasional cup of coffee, but stop wasting time, resources and Parliament’s reputation with this unending FoI evasion.