How did the MP's expenses system evolve?
Now that Michael Martin, the Speaker of the House of Commons, has agreed to leave his position in June many people are now wondering exactly how the MP's expenses system, which came into being before Michael Martin was appointed the Speaker, has managed to become so corrupt. The truth is that if the Labour government had not passed the Freedom of information act the likelihood is that the expenses scandal currently taking over UK politics would never have reached the surface.
Many people may not be aware that the expenses system was introduced by a Tory government back in the 1980s as a means of rewarding MPs from all sides of the house. However, over the last 20 to 25 years there has been significant developments in the field of MPs expenses leading up to the current debacle which has seen MPs allegedly claiming for invisible mortgages, second homes being flipped and food bills in excess of £400 per MP per month. There is no doubt that the system which was originally introduced back in the 1980s was not meant to incorporate a significant number of the alleged abuses happening today.
In a strange quirk of fate, MPs are now demanding significant increases in their own basic salaries to make up for these lost expenses even though many may have been claimed incorrectly from a moral standpoint.
Share this..
Related stories
Deloitte Forecast Property Slump Until 2010
Respected accountant Deloitte has plunged the property market into further chaos by suggesting that the ongoing slump in prices will last up until 2010 and see prices down one third from their recent highs. The move has scotched hopes of a sharp bounce in the sector given the recent takeover interest of late and hopes that more bids would follow.
However on the upside Deloitte feel...
Sainsbury's makes a play for the personal loan market
As slowly but surely we see signs that finance and liquidity are returning to the personal and business markets Sainsbury's appears to be making a play for the UK personal loan market. Customers who hold Sainsbury's nectar loyalty cards are being offered discounted personal loans from between £5000 and £15,000 if they apply on line. The more traditional rate is 8.1% but all holders of nectar car...
Read MoreA&L fined £7m by FSA
Alliance & Leicester (A&L) has been fined £7 million by the Financial Services Authority (FSA), the regulator announced today. Shoddy sales practices for payment protection insurance (PPI) between January 2005 to December 2007 mean that many customers could have been mis-sold the cover, the FSA said.A&L was found to not have made it clear to customers that taking out the cover was voluntary.The p...
Read MoreWhy did nobody see the pensions disaster approaching?
As we hear about more and more multibillion pound deficits across a variety of private sector final salary pension schemes, many people are now starting to wonder why nobody saw this potentially fatal problem emerging. Not only have we seen a reduction in the amount of tax which pension funds are allowed to reclaim with regards to expenses and income, but we've also seen the UK stock market fall a...
Read MoreUK stock market powers ahead again
The FTSE 100 has today powered ahead by nearly 100 points with more and more investors becoming optimistic about the worldwide economy and the potential uplift in the UK economy. As we have mentioned over the last few days, the UK economy seems to be out of sync with many worldwide economies such as America and European counterparts, but many investors believe this is just a short-term blip.
...