Subsistence Allowance Claims Will Cost Taxpayer £9125 p.a per MP

This brazen display of profiteering – which would land regular members of the public behind bars – will mean almost all MPs claiming the full 365-days ‘subsistance allowance’, even for days they have not worked, leaving the taxpayer with an additional £9125 bill per year for each MP. This comes despite Sir Christopher Kelly’s recent recommendations that invoices be provided for all expenses.

Freedom of Information – The Truth Shall Set You Free

The move opens a sad new chapter in British politics which illustrates to what extent MPs have not learned from past mistakes, and cannot be trusted to moderate themselves in such matters in future. Indeed, the public would not have known about the widespread abuse at all, had an appeal not been made by Ben Leapman under the Freedom of Information Act in 2004.

After years of expensive legal battles to keep grubby little MPs expenses out of the public domain at the taxpayers expense,  the truth was finally published.  This injury was served with a side order of insult when the MPs -  in a blatant display of contempt for the British public which would have made George Orwell blush – published a carefully vetted redacted version of their own, despite the original documents being publicly available.