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London MPs boost pay and expenses by sitting on hands
Joe Murphy and Paul Waugh04.07.08
London MPs are pocketing a huge cash bonanza from the taxpayer, the Standard can reveal today.
Hidden in the small print of a Commons vote on MPs' expenses last night was a £4,584 pay rise for inner London MPs and an expenses deal worth £10,000 to outer London MPs.
Astonishingly, most London MPs did not vote - in some cases believing MPs from outside the capital would carry the vote and deliver the cash into their bank accounts without them taking any flak.
Gordon Brown was also at the centre of a row over his failure to turn up to vote. Although the Prime Minister had been said to favour curbs on Westminster expenses, he stayed in No 10, while his two Commons aides and five Cabinet Ministers backed the increases.
Tory leader David Cameron said the Prime Minister had made a mockery of his own policy of pay restraint for public-sector workers.
The double windfall for London MPs was buried in a complex Commons amendment, carried by 172 to 144.
First, it torpedoed a £10,000 cut in the £24,000 allowances for running a second home, currently paid to outer London MPs even if they already have homes just a few miles from the Commons.
That flew in the face of a recommendation by the independent Senior Salaries Review Body, which ruled earlier this year there was no justification for MPs representing the London suburbs to enjoy a free second home.
Next, they voted through a £4,584 pay rise for inner London MPs, an increase twice as generous as the amount that the SSRB thought justified and three times what the Government had proposed. That worked out at a pay rise for 22 inner London MPs of around seven per cent - far above the 2.5 per cent ceiling on most public sector staff.
Of the 74 London MPs, just 14 voted for the package, including London Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell.
Another 21 voted against. But 39 sat on their hands while reaping the benefits.
The vote caused further outrage because it prevented the abolition of the "John Lewis List" that lets MPs buy goods such as TVs, hi-fis and kitchens on expenses. The MPs also threw out a recommendation for their lavish and lax system of allowances to be subject to external anti-fraud checks.
Nick Harvey, who helped draw up the wrecked package of reforms, accused MPs of cherrypicking the bits they liked.
Jim Dowd, an inner London MP who will automatically be paid the extra £4,584 supplement, voted for the package - but told the Standard he did not realise the increase was hidden in the motion. "I did not think it affected me directly," he said.
Brent East MP Sarah Teather condemned fellow London MPs who voted for the package. She told the Standard: "I'm very sad because we are all tarred with the same brush." The basic Westminster salary is £61,820.
The Prime Minister's spokesman today claimed that Mr Brown was " disappointed" that 33 of his ministers voted against the reform of Commons expenses and in favour of the increase.
Asked why the Prime Minister missed the vote, the spokesman claimed he was in crucial "meetings" for the G8 summit in Japan next week. But there were signs Mr Brown unofficially sanctioned his "rebels". Among those who voted for the perks were his close aide Ian Austin and Cabinet ministers Jacqui Smith, Andy Burnham, and Paul Murphy. Two London MPs, Dawn Butler and Andrew Love, seconded the vote but did not actually vote. A Standard survey found 16 outer London MPs living within an hour of Westminster who claimed for second homes. They are: Barry Gardiner, Tony McNulty, Dawn Butler, Harry Cohen, Rudy Vis, Derek Conway, Gareth Thomas, Andrew Rosindell, Alan Keen, Ann Keen, Richard Ottaway, Jacqui Lait, Mike Gapes, Andy Love, Angela Watkinson and Joan Ryan.
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What? Politicians want to be taken seriously? I don't think so!
Only 21 MPs voted "Against the Expenses" whilst all the rest either voted "For the Expenses" or worst of all the majority of MPs "Abstained from voting altogether"!
In my humble opinion, those politicians who "abstained" from voting on such a controversial issue (i.e. on part of their own remuneration package) simply do NOT deserve to receive any of the benefit as a result of the vote! Furthermore, in this day and age MPs who don't have the "balls" to vote should be sacked unless, of course, they are in hospital for serious illness and simply unable to do so. Come to think of it, these "gutless abstainers" should simply be "stripped of ALL their expenses and allowances"! These MPs are quite pathetic!
- Fraser Syme, Telford Park
ADGD
- A, ASFAS
There will be a lot of MP changes at the next election. Labour will probably be beaten by the BNP.
- Vince London, West London
