Thursday, 2 December 2010

They won't stop and they won't learn.

Depressing to be proved right.

Click for article
Far from crashing to a halt it seems like the gravy train just ran over a particularly noisy set of points. I mean, Christ, just look at it.
A list of 1,574 claims, rejected by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa) in the space of five months, shows that politicians have attempted to claim back money for their mortgage repayments, first-class travel and excessive hospitality.
The document, obtained by The Times newspaper, which lists a total of rejected claims worth £116,359, also reveals how parliamentarians submitted duplicate claims and did not provide suitable documentary evidence to back up their claims.
One MP was refused £338 for a shredder, while another tried to claim £1,057 for advertising. A third asked for £1,085 for ''contingencies''.
No receipts and duplicate claims? They've learnt nothing, have they? Not a fucking thing. And £338 for a shredder? The one we use was about 100 bucks so I'd have thought £338 would buy one of those heavy duty monsters with a massive bin. Fuck me, how much incriminating evidence was he trying to destroy? As for "contingencies" if the MP can't be specific then they should absolutely be knocked back. That at least is the plus side to this story.
All claims, which were submitted between May and September this year, were refused by Ipsa - the body set up to administer MPs expense claims.
Bloody right too, but...
The unsuccessful claims amounted to 7% of the total submitted by MPs during the period.
I realise this is an over simplification but 7% of the House is 45 MPs, so we're probably not talking one or two here. And the news gets worse.
The identity of the MPs who wrongly claimed the items will remain secret following an agreement made in the summer with the independent watchdog and receipts will also not be published with overall claims.
So we've no idea if this is old troughers that managed to avoid the worst of the fallout last time, hang on to their seats, and take up more or less where they left off, or if some of the new intake have joined in. Nor do we get to see the receipts - again.

Not. Fucking. Acceptable.