MP’s Expenses

Oh no – they still haven’t got it

Twenty MPs pocket up to £180,000 each on taxpayer-funded second homes

Almost 20 ministers and MPs have pocketed up to £180,000 each after selling their taxpayer-funded second homes for a profit.

We have been assured that MPs have ‘learned their lesson” and that the expenses scandal is all behind them as they act with total probity and honesty. Well some of them may have done but there are others who continue to regard the House of Commons as a train full of gravy. 

“David Gauke, the Tory Exchequer Secretary, made a £67,000 profit from the sale of his flat in Kennington, south London, but has only been asked to repay £26,762.

His main home is in Chorleywood, Herts, which is a 45-minute commute to London. Mr Gauke bought his Kennington flat in 2007 for £285,000, and claimed more than £13,000 in mortgage interest between 2010 and 2012.

He sold the flat in August last year for £352,000. A spokesman said he had "abided by the rules" at all times. Mr Gauke previously said it was "morally wrong" to pay tradesmen cash-in-hand.” Torygraph 9/5/13

A picture of said Gauke in the paper was not exactly flattering. He resembled an enforcer in a criminal organisation. He clearly adjusts his morals to suit his bank balance. He is not alone.

“Martin Bell, the former MP who has campaigned for greater transparency, said that MPs should repay any profit they make on the properties.He said: "It's an open and shut case, of course they should pay it back. There is the spirit of the law, why are they making a personal profit from allowances which they receive from the taxpayer? In this case they very clearly are." However one MP said that as he was not required to pay the money back he would not be doing so. Another said that she had used the money to reduce the mortgage on her family home, while a third said he was investing his profit for his grandchildren.

A total of 29 MPs have been asked to repay profits made since 2010, under new rules that came into effect after the expenses scandal, according to figures published by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority.

Only one of them, Stewart Jackson, a Conservative MP, refused to repay the money. He is now being sued by the expenses watchdog for the £54,000.” ibid

There has been a massive leak of tax avoidance details, “200 lorry-loads” according to the Guardian, which will have set some hearts a fluttering. As these were leaked in 2009, it seems there is a determined ongoing effort by our unscrupulous elite to suppress any news of this emerging into the light. How many of these identified will turn out to be very wealthy politicians? Cabinet Ministers even? And will we ever get to know?

It is ironic that the story was covered in the Guardian - who utilise offshore tax havens themselves.