Well, who’d have thought it? Yet another story involving Conservative Parliamentarians and mis-use of expenses:
Two Tory MPs, Sir Nicholas Winterton and his wife Ann, were in “unequivocal” breach of Parliamentary rules by claiming over £165,000 in rent on a property which they had bought outright, MPs have concluded.
The Wintertons’ family “benefited directly from the payment of rent”, which is “explicitly prohibited” under the rules, according to the Standards and Privileges Committee. They were alerted to this in February 2007 and “this should have been addressed.”
A report by MPs upheld the complaint against the long serving members for Macclesfield and Congleton, but said they should not face any punishment or pay back the rent because the breach was “unwitting” and they did not try and hide the arrangement.
The arrangement, whereby they purchased their flat outright in 2002, put it in a trust and then claimed rent for it on expenses, was within the rules when it came into force in February 2002. But John Lyon, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards who investigated the affair said it was “arguable” it might have breached rules introduced in 2003 and was an “unequivocal” breach of changes introduced in July 2006. (The Times)
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10 Comments
I bet all those little people forced to pay back overpayments on their housing benefits because of inept officials will be so happy with this news.
Every one of these stories of pigs in troughs (irrelevant which party) only reinforces the divide between politicians and the taxpayers.
Make them pay it back. Only then will people believe they are there for the best of reasons rather than the ‘keerching’ effect at our expense.
Guardian also features this story,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/jun/18/houseofcommons.conservatives1
It appears as well as fiddling expenses the wintertons were avoiding inheritance tax by paying parliamentary expenses into a family trust.
Do new Tory MP’s get taught sleaze as part of their westminster orientation, or does it just come naturally to them?
Being “unwitting” is not a reason to avoid repaying expenses that were paid in breach of the rules.
It might be a reason to avoid a penalty or have a reduced penalty.
The Parliamentary Commissioner is being very weak here.
IanPJ has hit the nail on the head. Through my work in the bureau, I have observed endless human misery caused by useless admin staff & pathetic systems: an especial offender is the working tax credits, which also wantonly discriminate against single people… as a result of this government’s dishonest focus on “child poverty”, when it’s surely adult poverty that is the issue… not that they’ll address matters like benefits & low-paid jobs, apart from a failed attempt to revive the Speenhamland system.
I am consistently sickened by scum like John Hutton & Caroline Heart Of Flint persecuting the most vulnerable people in society, when they not only preside over a system that impoverishes people, they also enrich themselves at our expense.
I do not want the nihilism promoted by “libertarians” to get a foothold here. Therefore, it is essential that politics be cleaned up.
There seems to be scope for an oral PQ to the Leader of the House:
“For the avoidance of error, may we assume that any Member of this House who has unwittingly recived allowances in breach of the rules of the House will not be asked to repay the money received in error?”
SUPPLEMENTARIES
If the answer is any shade of yes:
“May we advise our any of our constituents who have unwittingly received allowances or benefits in breach of the rules that they will receive equally considerate treatment?”
If the answer is any shade of no:
“The House will be grateful to the Right Honourable Member for that reply. Will the House authorities provide audit assistance to all Members to help us assure ourselves promptly that other public money has not gone astray in this way?”
D Evershed Says:
The Parliamentary Commissioner is being very weak here.
Agreed. He/She (whoever) was appointed to be weak.
I wish I could resign and fight a by-election on the principle of being within the rules was no defence to blatant corruption and that natural justice should prevail.
They should be forced to pay it back and be kicked out of the Conservative Party for running off with taxpayers’ cash.
I am sick and tired of people committing fraud on this scale and not only keeping their jobs, but not even being punished.
http://lettersfromatory.wordpress.com
Being “unwitting” is not a reason to avoid repaying expenses that were paid in breach of the rules.
I thought that the “unwitting” acceptance of dirty cash from a certain Mr Brown was fully defended by the Lib Dems. If this isn’t the case then I trust Mr Evershed will be throwing in his contribution to paying it back.
There’s my MP again. When she’s not making racist jokes or trying to ban abortion and homosexuality, she’s running off with public money. We’re all very proud of her.
Sigh.