I WAS interested to read Jake Turnbull’s defence of MPs and their expenses claims (HAS, April 2). Of course, we expect them to claim for staff, offices, communication, etc. It is part and parcel of their job, but TVs, new kitchens, bathrooms, fireplaces, landscaping – what are they to do with their parliamentary duties?

The rest of us have to pay for such luxuries from our salaries and pensions.

I also question the salary of £40,000 the taxpayer paid Home Secretary Jacqui Smith’s husband for his office duties, as it seems his incompetence is on a par with her greed. Would she have paid such a large salary to someone who wasn’t a relative?

And I think we should also question those responsible for allowing these expenses to go through at, it seems, a nod.

Sadly for us taxpayers, it appears interpreting the rules to suit their pockets is almost a game. What a shameful, greedy bunch they are.

Mrs S Harnby, Stockton-on-Tees.

DICK Turpin is alive and well in the guise of certain members of the Labour Government, but at least he had the courage to meet his victims face-to-face while holding a pistol and robbing them.

Members of this Government, who are exploiting the allowances system, which is paid for by taxpayers, do not have the honour of admitting they are abusing the system when found out.

They may not be breaking the law, but I feel that even though some are going to pay back part of the “allowances” the real crime lies in claiming in the first place.

The sooner we have a General Election and this sleazy Government is defeated the better for the country.

Peter Hardy, Morton-on-Swale, Northallerton, North Yorkshire.