Greedy b@st@rds are still at it!

Frank the tank
Frank the tank Posts: 6,553
edited September 2015 in The cake stop
Below is a list of MP's who have failed to pay back wrongly claimed expenses despite being contacted FOUR TIMES that the amount was outstanding. These sums have now been written off at the tax-payers expense. It is not the amount it is the principle. Those on this list of shame should be dismissed as MP's and by elections held.In days when the sick and needy are being needlessly persecuted by a heartless government to reduce the welfare bill it is abhorrent (to me at least) these well paid individuals think they can treat us all with contempt. What a shower.
The full list of written-off debts
Barry Gardiner (Labour, Brent North) - £77.30
Caroline Dinenage (Conservative, Gosport) - £13.50
Charles Hendry (Conservative, Wealden - until May 2015) - £87.60
Chris Skidmore (Conservative, Kingswood) - £125.00
Clive Efford (Labour, Eltham) - £79.20
Daniel Poulter (Conservative, Central Suffolk and North Ipswich) - £229.62
David Mowat (Conservative, Warrington South) - £35.00
Edward Timpson (Conservative, Crewe and Nantwich) - £127.70
Frank Dobson (Labour, Holborn and St Pancras - until May 2015) - £7.50
Frank Roy (Labour, Motherwell and Wishaw - until May 2015) - £63.37
Guy Opperman (Conservative, Hexham) - £161.09
Ian Mearns (Labour, Gateshead) - £10.00
Joe Benton (Labour, Bootle - until May 2015) - £309.15
Julie Hilling (Labour, Bolton West - until May 2015) - £75.30
Khalid Mahmood (Labour, Birmingham Perry Barr) - £48.00
Laurence Robertson (Conservative, Tewkesbury) - £27.00
Michael Meacher (Labour, Oldham West and Royton) - £27.00
Paul Farrelly (Labour, Newcastle-under-Lyme) - £28.00
Peter Bone (Conservative, Wellingborough) - £40.17
Sian James (Labour, Swansea East - until May 2015) - £193.00
Stephen Barclay (Conservative, North East Cambridgeshire) - £62.75
Stephen McCabe (Labour, Birmingham Selly Oak) - £27.00
Stephen Williams (Liberal Democrat, Bristol West - until May 2015) - £209.18
Stewart Jackson (Conservative, Peterborough) - £7.50
Tim Yeo (Conservative, South Suffolk - until May 2015) £10.00
Tobias Ellwood (Conservative, Bournemouth East) - £26.50
Tail end Charlie

The above post may contain traces of sarcasm or/and bullsh*t.
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Comments

  • capt_slog
    capt_slog Posts: 3,939
    I didn't add it up carefully, but with a quick wizz through my calculator and me being clumsy with the buttons it came to less that £2000.

    When you consider how much in terms of person hours at whatever they are paid to pursue such claims, I can't see that it's worth the effort.

    However,

    This lady wasn't even sent the bill...

    http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/601578/Nigeria-NHS-Health-Tourism-Bimbo-Ayelabola-Homerton-Hospital-Peter-Bone-Roger-Gross


    The older I get, the better I was.

  • bompington
    bompington Posts: 7,674
    Stewart Jackson (Conservative, Peterborough) - £7.50
    Hanging's too good for them! Why, my share of that 7.50 is at least 0.000025p.

    Of course it's annoying when MPs get their snouts in the trough. But surely the rather more important issue is the laws they're making?
    The total annual bill for MPs expenses is £100m. The total cost of the houses of parliament is about 1/2 billion. That might seem like a lot, but one bad law could make that look like chickenfeed.

    Fight for good lawmaking, the amount MPs make is then irrelevant.
  • chris_bass
    chris_bass Posts: 4,913
    nothing really worth writing home about there!
    www.conjunctivitis.com - a site for sore eyes
  • laurentian
    laurentian Posts: 2,372
    nothing really worth writing home about there!

    . . . it's not the amount though, it's the principle and the fact that the expenses were wrongly claimed in the first place. I wonder how much time and effort and money is taken up with the revenue chasing me for a couple of hundred quid of tax due to them making a mistake in my tax code in the first place. They aren't going to write that off any time soon.
    Wilier Izoard XP
  • chris_bass
    chris_bass Posts: 4,913
    nothing really worth writing home about there!

    . . . it's not the amount though, it's the principle and the fact that the expenses were wrongly claimed in the first place. I wonder how much time and effort and money is taken up with the revenue chasing me for a couple of hundred quid of tax due to them making a mistake in my tax code in the first place. They aren't going to write that off any time soon.

    I disagree, it is about the amount, it's much more likely to be a genuine error if it is for £10 than some kind of get rich quick scheme.

    Granted they should have paid up when asked but how many times do you think they have to write to people who don't pay council tax or similar before they pay up generally. We are all the same really
    www.conjunctivitis.com - a site for sore eyes
  • mamba80
    mamba80 Posts: 5,032
    People have gone to prison for failing to pay a TV licence @ £152.

    anyone setting themselves up to be an MP and hence someone who things they are "better" than the rest of us, should nt be allowed to get away with what is theft.

    Its not about tory v labour, it should be about what is right and wrong.
  • orraloon
    orraloon Posts: 12,608
    Why written off? Apart from those no longer on the payroll, a minority, unless they have stopped claiming expenses in this parliament, what are the chances of that?, why not simply deduct the outstanding amount from their next claim?

    You know, like happens in the real world with normal people.
  • These people were asked FOUR TIMES, you have mistakenly, (being generous on my part) or frauduently (being less generous) claimed these as expenses..........Pay this money back (otherwise it is theft). THEY DIDN'T.

    It is not about the amounts but the principle.

    Then again the right wing gravitas of this forum doesn't surprise me in the replies, well it's only a bit of money NOT THE F**KIN' point!!!!!!!! :evil: :evil: :evil:

    Then people wonder why Jeremy Corbyn has been filling halls up and down the country.....He is not one of them, and people are seeing him as such, and are hopeful he can break the "status quo" where we have a bit of banter in the house then all go and have a drink and a (smoke) {Oooh f**kin' 'ell alright for them not for us} in the bar.

    Curious, when IPSA said MP's should have a 11% pay rise how many said we have to accept this they're an independent body, they must be right. We'll have the rise thank you, I'm worth it.

    It was IPSA asking for payment........................errrrm!

    Go figure. :evil:
    Tail end Charlie

    The above post may contain traces of sarcasm or/and bullsh*t.
  • Why does standing for and being elected to the house of the commons means they think they're better than us Mamba80. I can't be sure but that's not the case with the only MP our family had had dealings with. One family member worked for someone who eventually rose highly in his party after.standing in the constituency he lived.in and worked near. He was an administrator before an MP and was.a.good boss and helpful constituency MP despite being a rising star in his party. Seriously down to earth guy known for connecting with his party.activists which.he was b one of the for many years before becoming an MP.

    There are.good people in the house of commons but the systems obviously need changing. Our expenses system relies on receipts and rules. They're checked and only paid out if valid so never any need to claim anything.back. Better to have them arguing over the unpaid.expenses than claiming it was back. How hard is it really to actually check.expense.claims before paying out?

    BTW that £7.50 owed was it one item paid by mistake or a few pennies over many claims.750 times overpaid by a penny rounded up not down for example? Bare figures without all the facts if you ask me.

    Definitely not Tories vs Labour vs Lib Dems since they're all represented. Hence the political comment about taking money from the sick and needy is irrelevant point scoring by one of our friendly, resident lefties. Unless you think Frank Dobson had a hand in the Tories welfare reform!

    Still I find this very annoying because it is not beyond the wit and wisdom of these people to set up complex laws and understand complex arguments. They're not daft! So why on earth can't they bend their minds towards a decent expense system that prevents over payments or at least gets honest mistakes sorted out next payment run through deductions against next expenses? Pathetic!
  • Saw something on the BBC website earlier this evening, some of these items have actually already been resolved. So hold fire with the pitchforks for the moment.
  • @Tangledmetal,

    My point was it was MP's of all parties,not just tories. But this government are "going for" people they see as cheats, whether they are or not. Sort your own house out first.

    Apparently the expenses are paid for by a parliamentary barclay card and the spending is scrutinised by IPSA and any inappropriate expenditure by a member is then highlighted and the member then pays back any incorrect claims.

    NOT POLITICAL POINT SCORING just someone with morals, however, hey-ho!

    BTW I've nowt against MP's my dealing with them have been very good, indeed the late Andy Stewart (tory) was a man I had social drinks with and indeed one of my closest friends is a tory councillor.

    IT IS NOT ABOUT TORY/LABOUR/LIB-DEM it's about what is morally right, understand?
    Tail end Charlie

    The above post may contain traces of sarcasm or/and bullsh*t.
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,243
    Pay 'em 3 times as much, remove the expenses.

    Job done.

    Everyone would say they were well off with £150,000. Then they'd try to live in central London with their family and realise they can't afford it.....
  • Pay 'em 3 times as much, remove the expenses.

    Job done.

    Everyone would say they were well off with £150,000. Then they'd try to live in central London with their family and realise they can't afford it.....
    If you paid them £500k it wouldn't matter, if you're on £65,000 and feel the need to claim £10 on expenses!!!
    Tail end Charlie

    The above post may contain traces of sarcasm or/and bullsh*t.
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,243
    Pay 'em 3 times as much, remove the expenses.

    Job done.

    Everyone would say they were well off with £150,000. Then they'd try to live in central London with their family and realise they can't afford it.....
    If you paid them £500k it wouldn't matter, if you're on £65,000 and feel the need to claim £10 on expenses!!!

    https://www.concur.co.uk/media-resources/press-releases/01-10-12

    ONDON, England, 11th January, 2012 – A survey of 2,130 UK adults has revealed that with the nation feeling the pinch, people see expense fiddling as a legitimate way of supplementing their salary if they believe they are underpaid. According to the study conducted by YouGov for Concur, one in five people (18 per cent) believe it is acceptable to fiddle (exaggerate) expenses ‘when an employee works long hours but isn’t paid any overtime’.

    The same percentage believe an employee is entitled to fiddle if they ‘don’t feel they are fully reimbursed’ for all the costs they have incurred on behalf of their employer. Mileage is the biggest area of potential expense fiddling with over one in four (26 per cent) judging it acceptable to exaggerate expense claims when the ‘mileage rate paid by the employer doesn’t cover the actual car and fuel costs’.

    MPs are fairly in line with the UK average.
  • Pay 'em 3 times as much, remove the expenses.

    Job done.

    Everyone would say they were well off with £150,000. Then they'd try to live in central London with their family and realise they can't afford it.....
    If you paid them £500k it wouldn't matter, if you're on £65,000 and feel the need to claim £10 on expenses!!!

    https://www.concur.co.uk/media-resources/press-releases/01-10-12

    ONDON, England, 11th January, 2012 – A survey of 2,130 UK adults has revealed that with the nation feeling the pinch, people see expense fiddling as a legitimate way of supplementing their salary if they believe they are underpaid. According to the study conducted by YouGov for Concur, one in five people (18 per cent) believe it is acceptable to fiddle (exaggerate) expenses ‘when an employee works long hours but isn’t paid any overtime’.

    The same percentage believe an employee is entitled to fiddle if they ‘don’t feel they are fully reimbursed’ for all the costs they have incurred on behalf of their employer. Mileage is the biggest area of potential expense fiddling with over one in four (26 per cent) judging it acceptable to exaggerate expense claims when the ‘mileage rate paid by the employer doesn’t cover the actual car and fuel costs’.

    MPs are fairly in line with the UK average.
    So are you saying they're right to with-hold re-payment of wrongly claimed expenses from IPSA?

    I say not, if e-on sent me a bill saying I owe them £10 for gas I've used and refused to pay, before long my gas would, quite rightly be cut off. And they wouldn't tell me four times either.

    No, they're in the wrong and some of them are part of a government sticking the boot into the very weakest in our society, others not. But I'd treat them all the same as I said earlier. Test their morals with the public opinion.
    Tail end Charlie

    The above post may contain traces of sarcasm or/and bullsh*t.
  • So it's not about individual parties but you bring up the policy and actions of one party as being linked somehow to not paying back overpayment of expenses. To me that is making it about one party, or at least partly about point scoring. We each have our opinions and this was how your post came across to me. If you say that is not what you're saying then I will take your word on that. No offence.meant just that's how it came across to me.
  • pblakeney
    pblakeney Posts: 25,595
    This thread is a a pretty fair statement on the current level of morals in this Country.

    Bleeding hearts publicly but privately looking after number one.
    And I am not just referring to politicians, though they set a fairly low bar.
    The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
    I am not sure. You have no chance.
    Veronese68 wrote:
    PB is the most sensible person on here.
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,243
    Thing is, people like Stevo will still vote for their Tory MP, even if he fiddles his expenses.

    And that's not uncommon.
  • ballysmate
    ballysmate Posts: 15,921
    Thing is, people like Stevo will still vote for their Tory MP, even if he fiddles his expenses.

    And that's not uncommon.


    As far as I can see Stevo hasn't even posted on this thread, so how can you say that? Frank has posted the list of MPs and it is cross party and has been at pains to say so.

    As regards your last sentence, are you saying it's not uncommon for Tory MPs to fiddle their expenses ? What are your thoughts on other MPs?
    If you are saying there are a lot of people who would automatically vote Tory, you are correct. But there are thousands of people across the country who would vote for anything wearing a red rosette of Labour.

    BTW People like Stevo, comes across as quite disparaging.
  • seanoconn
    seanoconn Posts: 11,318
    Must........refrain........from......commenting......on.....Stevo...

    Phew!
    Pinno, מלך אידיוט וחרא מכונאי
  • ben@31
    ben@31 Posts: 2,327
    When you consider how much in terms of person hours at whatever they are paid to pursue such claims, I can't see that it's worth the effort

    Simply give them the admin fee to pay on top of what they owe.

    Can we simply not pay what we owe ? Next time I'm at the checkout at Tesco "It's only £50 , think of the man hours to pursue the unpaid cost, I won't bother paying for my shopping".
    "The Prince of Wales is now the King of France" - Calton Kirby
  • Stevo_666
    Stevo_666 Posts: 58,164
    Thing is, people like Stevo will still vote for their Tory MP, even if he fiddles his expenses.

    And that's not uncommon.


    As far as I can see Stevo hasn't even posted on this thread, so how can you say that? Frank has posted the list of MPs and it is cross party and has been at pains to say so.

    As regards your last sentence, are you saying it's not uncommon for Tory MPs to fiddle their expenses ? What are your thoughts on other MPs?
    If you are saying there are a lot of people who would automatically vote Tory, you are correct. But there are thousands of people across the country who would vote for anything wearing a red rosette of Labour.

    BTW People like Stevo, comes across as quite disparaging.
    Thanks Bally. I've long been used to leftiebollox sweeping generalisations about Tories so it's water off a ducks back really. Wonder whether I should just bask in the notoriety? I get a bit of that these days just on account what people think I do for a living :)

    Just for info, my MP has not fiddled his expenses...and last time I voted, it was for a Labour candidate :wink:
    "I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]
  • ben@31
    ben@31 Posts: 2,327
    ...and last time I voted, it was for a Labour candidate :wink:

    You mean tory lite.


    Until Corbyn takes over and gets them back on track.
    "The Prince of Wales is now the King of France" - Calton Kirby
  • ballysmate
    ballysmate Posts: 15,921
    ...and last time I voted, it was for a Labour candidate :wink:

    You mean tory lite.


    Until Corbyn takes over and gets them back on track.


    No he means Jezza.
    Have you been away? :lol:
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,243
    All I meant were people who will always vote for their party forever and a day.

    Fair to say stevo is a good example as he is so keen on his party he joins rivals to sabotage them.

    Can't see him voting for another party even if his Tory candidate did fiddle expenses

    Plenty of people like that on all sides
  • Stevo_666
    Stevo_666 Posts: 58,164
    All I meant were people who will always vote for their party forever and a day.

    Fair to say stevo is a good example as he is so keen on his party he joins rivals to sabotage them.

    Can't see him voting for another party even if his Tory candidate did fiddle expenses

    Plenty of people like that on all sides
    I also joined because it was a bit of fun and in the national interest :)

    You sure I have always voted Conservative?

    And out of interest have you or would you ever vote for a party other than the Libdems?
    "I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,243
    Only been old enough for 2 elections but no.

    I don't vote lib den blindly though. You get my point anyway. There are people who who will still vote for their expense fidling MP regardless because of their party affiliation.

    Like I said earlier, 1 in 5 of adults think it's ok to fiddle expenses in some circumstances. Difference is when joe bloggs gets caught no one cares.
  • chris_bass
    chris_bass Posts: 4,913
    Like I said earlier, 1 in 5 of adults think it's ok to fiddle expenses in some circumstances. Difference is when joe bloggs gets caught no one cares.


    This!
    www.conjunctivitis.com - a site for sore eyes
  • pblakeney
    pblakeney Posts: 25,595
    Like I said earlier, 1 in 5 of adults think it's ok to fiddle expenses in some circumstances. Difference is when joe bloggs gets caught no one cares.


    This!
    But I bet Joe Bloggs does care.
    Especially when he has to pay up.

    I believe that to be the point.
    The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
    I am not sure. You have no chance.
    Veronese68 wrote:
    PB is the most sensible person on here.
  • Stevo_666
    Stevo_666 Posts: 58,164
    ...and last time I voted, it was for a Labour candidate :wink:

    You mean tory lite.


    Until Corbyn takes over and gets them back on track.
    We can only hope so...

    CNm2uJpWgAAuaer-1.jpg

    Results tomorrow - should be fun :)
    "I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]