MPs Expenses Claims are Not Trivial
The latest revelations regarding MPs expenses claims have been the most shocking yet in this erupting scandal. The Daily Telegraph revealed details of Tory MPs’ expenses claims which put many of those made by Labour MPs in the shade.
For example Douglas Hogg, the former agriculture secretary, submitted a claim that included over £2000 to have the moat around his country estate cleared and James Arbuthnot MP claimed for the cleaning of the swimming pool at his country residence.
Michael Ancram, the Marquis of Lothian, claimed more than £14,000 a year in expenses while owning three properties worth an estimated £8million, none of which had a mortgage. It has emerged that many members of parliament have been making claims for their country homes for many years, going back to the time when receipts were no longer required to be submitted.
The actor Stephen Fry has hit back at the media for having made such a meal of this latest scandal. In his opinion journalists are some of the worst offenders when it comes to fraudulent expenses claims. He says that it is a ‘jounrnalistic made-up frenzy’.
However, there are many people in the UK who would disagree. The amounts claimed by these MPs may appear to some people, like Stephen Fry, to be trivial but for those earning relatively low salaries, like nurses (a grade A nurse earns between £10,050 and £12,615 a year), these questionable expenses claims are plainly wrong and far more significant than the war in Afghanistan, the current financial crisis or global warming.
