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Breaking news: HoC Speaker to resign today

marty21 said:
hopefully there will be a lot more scalps come general election time
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Whoever is up against a bent MP will have the expenses all over their campaign stuff.
Vote for me - the other guy screws you.

I have a feeling that a lot of political careers are about to end before an election takes place.
 
derf said:
Whoever is up against a bent MP will have the expenses all over their campaign stuff.
Vote for me - the other guy screws you.

I have a feeling that a lot of political careers are about to end before an election takes place.
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There are a good number of people who didn't make it into seats now watching this situation with great interest given the opportunities it present.
 
derf said:
Whoever is up against a bent MP will have the expenses all over their campaign stuff.
Vote for me - the other guy screws you.

I have a feeling that a lot of political careers are about to end before an election takes place.
Click to expand...

it could be the fringe parties that benefit, the Greens could get a lot of votes from dissatisfied Labour voters who can't bear to vote for the Lib Dems or the Tories, the Greens are targeting Brighton as they got 20 odd % last time, and they could pick up votes in other areas too, I think they did well in Norwich last time, and could pick up votes in certain parts of London I guess

could also let the BNP in aswell, they might do better, particularly if they get a Euro MP in June

there could also be anti-corruption candidates, Martin Bell might run again, Esther Rantzen has said she may run against a Luton MP (Nolan?) who had outrageous expense claims, it would be a perfect opportunity for others to run similar campaigns against particularly dodgy expense claims merchants in all the parties - which could mean a coalition, if all the parties were to lose seats
 
So, I hear that the cheque that Hazel Blears wrote out was made payable to HMRC. And, of course since this wasn't a tax or VAT issue - it now means that she has a tax credit for that amount. An personal advance tax payment, if you like.

So she still gets to keep the money, just in an even more indirect fashion. That's my understanding of it, anyway.
 
@ cesare. It was a tax issue, wasn't it? The money she repaid is capital gains tax that she avoided by telling HMRC that it was her main home, when it was her second home for expenses purposes.
 
marty21 said:
it could be the fringe parties that benefit, the Greens could get a lot of votes from dissatisfied Labour voters who can't bear to vote for the Lib Dems or the Tories, the Greens are targeting Brighton as they got 20 odd % last time, and they could pick up votes in other areas too, I think they did well in Norwich last time, and could pick up votes in certain parts of London I guess

could also let the BNP in aswell, they might do better, particularly if they get a Euro MP in June

there could also be anti-corruption candidates, Martin Bell might run again, Esther Rantzen has said she may run against a Luton MP (Nolan?) who had outrageous expense claims, it would be a perfect opportunity for others to run similar campaigns against particularly dodgy expense claims merchants in all the parties - which could mean a coalition, if all the parties were to lose seats
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in fact, a hung parliament now looks a really good bet, next time round
 
ymu said:
@ cesare. It was a tax issue, wasn't it? The money she repaid is capital gains tax that she avoided by telling HMRC that it was her main home, when it was her second home for expenses purposes.
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Yes - but I've heard that HMRC are saying that it's an internal issue (i.e. the system) rather than a tax one. As far as they're concerned, they're not bothered about the avoidance because it wasn't evasion iyswim.
 
Cameron seems to be having a good crisis, better than Brown anyway, who seems to be swimming in treacle constantly
 
cesare said:
Yes - but I've heard that HMRC are saying that it's an internal issue (i.e. the system) rather than a tax one. As far as they're concerned, they're not bothered about the avoidance because it wasn't evasion iyswim.
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Isn't that just them saying that they won't be sending in the inspectors to systematically scrutinise the expense claims? That's different from an individual declaring an "error" in the amount of tax demanded and paying what they owe.
 
ymu said:
Isn't that just them saying that they won't be sending in the inspectors to systematically scrutinise the expense claims? That's different from an individual declaring an "error" in the amount of tax demanded and paying what they owe.
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We probably need a tax expert here (clearly I'm not :D) but I was told that the tax wasn't demanded (it wasn't owed to the HMRC at all - basically a legal avoidance as opposed to illegal evasion) and therefore yes, HMRC will keep the money but she gets credited with it.
 
Streathamite said:
in fact, a hung parliament now looks a really good bet, next time round
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I'd still put my money on a conservative win - there's no way anyone's going to call an election 'til next year, and by that time the immediate furore will have died down, and people will have had a chance to do a protest vote at the European elections.
 
marty21 said:
it could be the fringe parties that benefit,
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You may well be right. The scammers seem to be pretty much cross party so the fringe groups may well pick up votes from people sick of bent bastards.

The other thing that will be sure to happen is a very low turn out on polling day.
Voters are just pissed off at the shit so I think many will just not bother.
 
derf said:
You may well be right. The scammers seem to be pretty much cross party so the fringe groups may well pick up votes from people sick of bent bastards.

The other thing that will be sure to happen is a very low turn out on polling day.
Voters are just pissed off at the shit so I think many will just not bother.
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a low turnout would work in the favour of fringe parties as well, at least well organised fringe parties who get their members to vote
 
beeboo said:
I'd still put my money on a conservative win - there's no way anyone's going to call an election 'til next year, and by that time the immediate furore will have died down, and people will have had a chance to do a protest vote at the European elections.
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if we are still in a economic depression by election time, which is very likely, then all those stories about MPs claiming enormous expenses will still be a factor come election time, and the protest vote will be against the parties, not against the wrong un members, who hopefully, will get punished come general election time
 
cesare said:
We probably need a tax expert here (clearly I'm not :D) but I was told that the tax wasn't demanded (it wasn't owed to the HMRC at all - basically a legal avoidance as opposed to illegal evasion) and therefore yes, HMRC will keep the money but she gets credited with it.
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Sounds like a fairly simple FOIA request to me. :)
 
Nemo said:
Bad idea; the parties shouldn't be making such proposals as they would then become a matter for partisan politics rather than constructive multi-lateral discussion, and as a result, the set of rules which finally emerged would lack authority. The House of Commons as a whole has to decide what they want to do; the intervention of political parties would be a counter-productive intrusion by the executive.
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Yeah, but then we would actually get some say in how the House of Commons is run ... otherwise it's the MPs regulating themselves ... again.
 
belboid said:
he was officially in charge of the worthless Fees Office, which happily let the thieving cunts claim for just about anything.

Which isnt to say the thieving MP's arent also trying to use him as a scapegoat.
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It's not just that he was in charge of the Fees Office and allowed this to happen, it's also that he did his best to stop the details from coming out as soon as the scandal started to break. That sunk him more than anything.
 
marty21 said:
if we are still in a economic depression by election time, which is very likely, then all those stories about MPs claiming enormous expenses will still be a factor come election time, and the protest vote will be against the parties, not against the wrong un members, who hopefully, will get punished come general election time
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I think people have short memories and that in a year's time we'll be a bit bored of expenses and it won't be a major factor as far as party voting in the general election is concerned. I think it will make a difference for individuals and we'll be likely to see a lot of new faces replacing those whose image has been most badly tarnished, but I don't think that it will have a detrimental impact on the Tories' ability to win next time round. Sadly.
 
Meltingpot said:
It's not just that he was in charge of the Fees Office and allowed this to happen, it's also that he did his best to stop the details from coming out as soon as the scandal started to break. That sunk him more than anything.
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yeah, his treatment of Hoey and wotsisname was too much even for nulab ministers. The man fucked himself good and proper
 
beeboo said:
I think people have short memories and that in a year's time we'll be a bit bored of expenses and it won't be a major factor as far as party voting in the general election is concerned. I think it will make a difference for individuals and we'll be likely to see a lot of new faces replacing those whose image has been most badly tarnished, but I don't think that it will have a detrimental impact on the Tories' ability to win next time round. Sadly.
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Martin Bell unseated Neil Hamilton, in a safe Tory seat, 2.5 years after the cash for questions scandal first broke. Brown has to call an election in less than 12 months. Esther Rantzen is threatening to pull a Tatton on Margaret Moran, and it seems likely that others will follow suit. Hogg has announced he won't be standing and deselections have been promised by both Brown and Cameron, so it won't just be independents standing on an anti-sleaze ticket.

It will probably help the Tories, but it's not like it makes a difference which shower is in. Reward nu-Labour just for not being the Tories and we'll never be rid of the slimy cunts.

This is not just about their personal greed and dishonesty, it is about the hypocrisy of it all. The way they squeeze ordinary people with ever lower wages, ever harder to claim benefits, ever more draconian measures against minor transgressions, whilst failing to keep a grip on the super-rich tax-dodgers who have been robbing us blind. Because they saw nothing wrong with robbing us blind, any more than they saw anything wrong with blaming the poor to distract attention from the crimes of the rich.

I don't think the point is lost on them. It's up to us whether it's still resonating come the election, but I think it will be.
 
reading today, think it was the metro - martin will get a £38k pension, as the speaker, a £40,000 grant, resettlement or something, will also get his pension for his years as an MP, and be made a Lord and get many pounds to attend per day, jobs a good un
 
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