MPs, Hotels and Expenses
A recent enquiry to the House of Commons Information Office confirms that the Westminster Parliament sat for only 165 days last year.
Parliament is normally in formal session on only 3 days a week – Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursday – and many MPs can easily travel down to London on the Tuesday morning and come back on Thursday evening.
The truth is that MPs don’t need to be in London for 165 nights during a normal business year – lots of MPs and ministers are also away from London on official business or foreign trips – racking up extra accommodation and other costs into the bargain.
Maybe they need to stay in London 125 nights - at best - as an average across all 646 MPs.
At the moment the maximum second home (Additional Costs Allowance) that MPs can claims is £23,083 every year – if they all claim up to the limit the cost runs to almost £15 million per year.
So, why not do away with all this scandal and introduce a new rule requiring MPs to stay in a hotel when they’re in London – that would cut out all this nonsense about buying fancy furniture and expensive items for the home.
Give them £100 per night – even Basil Fawlty could get a decent, albeit basic, hotel for that price in London – especially with regular bookings - and it would have the huge attraction of saving the public purse millions of pounds.
£100 per night x 125 nights = £12,500 a year instead of the current maximum of £23,083.
Just think how much money the tax payer would save – and how much time honourable members would save:
1. No more time and expense on buying houses for your ducks
2. No more cleaners and gardeners to look after your second home
3. No more expensive charges incurred hunting for that ideal city flat
4. No more driving cross country, delivering furniture to your London pad
5. No more difficult decisions about choosing which giant plasma TV to install
Parliament is normally in formal session on only 3 days a week – Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursday – and many MPs can easily travel down to London on the Tuesday morning and come back on Thursday evening.
The truth is that MPs don’t need to be in London for 165 nights during a normal business year – lots of MPs and ministers are also away from London on official business or foreign trips – racking up extra accommodation and other costs into the bargain.
Maybe they need to stay in London 125 nights - at best - as an average across all 646 MPs.
At the moment the maximum second home (Additional Costs Allowance) that MPs can claims is £23,083 every year – if they all claim up to the limit the cost runs to almost £15 million per year.
So, why not do away with all this scandal and introduce a new rule requiring MPs to stay in a hotel when they’re in London – that would cut out all this nonsense about buying fancy furniture and expensive items for the home.
Give them £100 per night – even Basil Fawlty could get a decent, albeit basic, hotel for that price in London – especially with regular bookings - and it would have the huge attraction of saving the public purse millions of pounds.
£100 per night x 125 nights = £12,500 a year instead of the current maximum of £23,083.
Just think how much money the tax payer would save – and how much time honourable members would save:
1. No more time and expense on buying houses for your ducks
2. No more cleaners and gardeners to look after your second home
3. No more expensive charges incurred hunting for that ideal city flat
4. No more driving cross country, delivering furniture to your London pad
5. No more difficult decisions about choosing which giant plasma TV to install
End of problem.
