Who are you voting for in the elections next month?

[RichDoblo120]

too fqn right. Did you see question time a couple of weeks ago with that woman MP (Can't remember her name), she came across as if she was the queen all high and mighty. She was then asked if she would pay back the £40k she fleased out the system she said NO!. Then realsed a torrent of heckleing and abuse :devil:.

Should Fire her ass there and then and then prosecute them like you would a criminal. For all the MP's that were deliberatly abusing it anyway.

it's the system that's wrong. Some of them were actually entitled to claim for the stuff they claimed for, like the horse sh*t and the duck pond and the moat.

I heard Michael Portillo say that without these extras MP's would have to survive on £63,000 a year.
Survive? Is he having a laugh? I could definitely survive on that.

At least it's out in the open now.

 

[Ffoxy]

it's the system that's wrong. Some of them were actually entitled to claim for the stuff they claimed for, like the horse sh*t and the duck pond and the moat.
I heard Michael Portillo say that without these extras MP's would have to survive on £63,000 a year.
Survive? Is he having a laugh? I could definitely survive on that.

At least it's out in the open now.

Wrong, they can only claim for things that are involved in their work.

 

[RichDoblo120]

Wrong, they can only claim for things that are involved in their work.

they were, really.
they were entitled to claim for up-keep on their house, including the garden.
The guidelines said it should be restricted to grass cutting but some of them took it a bit too far to say the least.

check it out here.

there's loads of stories like this if you google it.

 

[Ffoxy]

they were, really.
they were entitled to claim for up-keep on their house, including the garden.
The guidelines said it should be restricted to grass cutting but some of them took it a bit too far to say the least.

check it out here.

there's loads of stories like this if you google it.

Then I agree,... the system stinx BIG style.

 

[The Beard]

I intend to vote for Vimto Rolf.. I just need to adjust my ballot paper accordingly.

I think you'll have to eat it and then pass it with a large bowl of All Bran to adjust your ballot paper accordingly enough, but good luck anyway.

 

[Venters]

How would the democratic system deal with a complete No Vote at a General Election, as a vote of no confidence!

I have no intention to vote, all our cards have been shredded and consigned to the bin...

I can still moan and whinge, I wouldnt trust any one of the scheming, money grabbing coniving tea-leaves as far as I could kick one TBH.... :tosser:'s

Not bothering is not the answer. Is more likely to be seen as many not being fussed and being happy with the status quo.

Make the effort go in and then spoil the paper. Atleast it is still counted effectively as a protest.

 

[The Beard]

I think the system IS at fault, but equally so is the enforcement of the rules. A comment was made by a reporter on one TV News broadcast that in his opinion, MPs would intimidate the civil servant who tried to turn down certain claims.

As I understand it, expenses claims are supposed to only be for items that are essential for the MP to do his job. He/She needs to get to and from The House, he/she needs somewhere to live. He/She may have to entertain from time to time. For instance local Councillor from his constituency may want to attract a new factory to the area and ask the MP to meet the company. So a trip to The House of Commons is could be arranged and a meal afterwards would be a good way of rounding off the day and giving the Directors of the company a good impression of the area they were thinking of setting up their new factory.

If I remember rightly, the second home business first came about because the MPs argued that for the money they forked out in rent or hotel bills they could actually buy their own property.

Even when they stay well within the rules they really aren't thinking of the public. Our MP had the highest rail travel expenses in the North West of England at something over £20K. All legit. However, I do wonder how many of those journeys were 1st Class. I would also be surprised if he couldn't get an unrestricted annual ticket for a lot less than 20 Grand.

There has certainly been some skullduggery going on here, but as a Russian journalist said on TV last week, the difference between British and Russian government corruption, is that in Russia you get something for your money. Like a Government contract, or permission to build a sub-standard block of flats that will collapse with serious loss of life.

I also think, to put it in perspective, this is nothing like the affair in the '60s where Lockheed bribed several German and Italian Government ministers which resulted in the F104 Starfighter being adopted by the Luftwaffe and the Regia Aeronautica. The aircraft was known by the subriquet; "The Widowmaker."

That really was corruption.

I believe there may have been a slight whiff of impropriety about a certain purchase of recycled steel from the USSR in the '70s that found its way onto Lancia Betas. Friends in Italy reckon it came from scrapped WWII Soviet submarines that had been slowly sinking into the Baltic for the previous 20 years.

 

[RichDoblo120]

I think what will probably happen is, if they scrap most or even all of their expenses, they'll just give themselves a pay rise to make up for it.

If they'd done that in the first place people would still have made a fuss but not as bad as it is now.

 

[Ulpian]

They made the rules. Whether or not they stuck to the letter and the law of their rules is immaterial; these people made their own secret nests and have been feathering them at our expense ever since, and increasing our taxes at the same time. And still many of them don't get it, such is their amorality.

Not turning up to vote cannot be acceptable. Either vote for somebody, or spoil the paper. As Venters says, not bothering is interpreted as disinterest, and therefore acceptance. And anyone who accepts what these venal, corrupt, duplicitous, lying, scheming, conniving, morally bankrupt creeps have done is no better than they are.

That that tory MP stated that some of the greedy thieves may be driven to suicide is risible. Let them kill themselves, and good riddance.

 

[punto_matt]

Being in the EU has benefitted this country in some ways. Some of the large scale redevelopment programs that have happened in some citys wouldnt of happened if it wasnt for EU funding.

 

[Cian]

Irish Labour, under protest as I disagree with their European policies but its needed to try and keep Fianna Fail out in my constituency. Only anti-EU parties running here are Sinn Fein (which I won't vote for for obvious reasons) and Libertas (homophobic pro-life neocons). Libertas are also running in most parts of the UK as it happens...

we've local elections too, will be voting Irish Labour and a local ex-Labour independent who was very briefly a TD (MP) for the area.

 

[udtrev]

As regards their wages, they should be paid a decent wage, but from then on ALL their pay rises should should be equal to the average pay rise (% wise) of the public sector.

Then when the penny pinching ar5eholes pay folk the Nurses a mere pittance they have to take the hit themselves too.

As regards London accommodation why not build a block of flats, the MP has a flat allocated, when they get voted out they move out. As regards to it's upkeep the constituency are liable for the bills, all of which MUST be FULLY vetted like you get in a private company.


Trev (climbing off his soapbox)

 

[Cian]

if you go to the EU profiler website you just fill in the questionnaire, it only takes about 5 minutes, and they tell you which party in your area is best suited to your political opinions.
It will also tell you which party is closest to your opinions in the rest of the EU too.

That damn thing makes me out to be a Shinner. Its broken. Completely broken....

 

[The Beard]

As regards their wages, they should be paid a decent wage, but from then on ALL their pay rises should should be equal to the average pay rise (% wise) of the public sector.

Then when the penny pinching ar5eholes pay folk the Nurses a mere pittance they have to take the hit themselves too.

As regards London accommodation why not build a block of flats, the MP has a flat allocated, when they get voted out they move out. As regards to it's upkeep the constituency are liable for the bills, all of which MUST be FULLY vetted like you get in a private company.


Trev (climbing off his soapbox)

One of the problems with expenses vs. salaries, is an MP who represents, for example, Luton, he/she may still need accomodation near Westminster, yet when he/she goes back home, for a mid week surgery or for the weekend, an MP from Manchester will have to pay a lot more for a rail ticket than one closer to London. How much the Member for Inverness never mind Belfast would have to pay I've no idea.

There will be problems with whatever form of expenses/salary arrangement they come up with. In theory, The Commons could provide secretarial services although with the number of people leaking information or selling it to the press, or another party, I can see that coming up against some resistance.

As for accomodation, there's really not much wrong with a Premier Inn. Apart from lack of privacy; and a lower level of security than a private apartment or house; and the fact that an MP would always have to eat in public, which means they're always open to being bothered/harrassed etc. But, on Sky News the other day, a reporter was looking at a 2 bed rented apartment about a quarter mile from The Commons. The catch? £1,500 per month. In Greater Manchester you can rent a 5 bed detached in a nice area like Bramhall for that sort of money.

The other problem I can think of with putting them all in one accomodation block, is, if you remember the damage the IRA did (or could easily have done) to the Cabinet, it would really be a target Al Qaeda couldn't resist. You might not think the extermination of Parliament is such a bad thing, but not only would it render the UK ungovernable, but it may also make them less likely to make difficult international decisions for fear of being assasinated en masse.

 

[jug]

i cant vote, none of the parties seem up to the job imo and i cant give my vote to any party simply for the sake of voting, that would go against the whole point and principle of voting.

your vote is your approval of a party's policies and a demonstration of your confidence in that party's ability to implement those policies. i have never felt that way about any party.

 

[ChrisUK]

BNP it is then pmsl. Saw them demonstrating today when I was at the Sea side lol, racist pig dogs.

 

[Adrian Bravo]

I need to research the parties. I want a party that doesnt stuff the motorist, is not anti car, and is not on this global warming band wagon.

 

[ChrisUK]

I need to research the parties. I want a party that doesnt stuff the motorist, is not anti car, and is not on this global warming band wagon.

Pretty stuffed then lol. Could start our own FF party haha.

 

[Adrian Bravo]

:chin: there should be a no vote option aswell.

 

[RichDoblo120]

I need to research the parties. I want a party that doesnt stuff the motorist, is not anti car, and is not on this global warming band wagon.

they've all jumped on the global warming band wagon to keep the self satisfied, tree hugging, middle class, eco warrior minority happy.

they couldn't care less what the majority want.

in the end it's just an excuse to build more nuclear power stations and be less reliant on the arabs, they don't believe the global warming cr*p any more than we do.