MPs' expenses

Several remedies are obvious, such as providing temporary accommodation in London for late night sittings, etc, thereby eliminating the second home necessity.

MPs should have a substantial increase in salary and jobs outside the Commons banned.

Richmond Conservative MP William Hague has made millions with after-dinner speeches, etc, and he is not alone.

As in the US, no family members should be employed by MPs.

Introduce these simple remedies and perhaps the electorate will look more kindly on their MPs.

It is ludicrous that a Premier League footballer can get more in a week than many MPs get in a year.

Minor parties must be hoping for many more votes at the forthcoming European and local elections and that will be no bad thing. But surely it is time to introduce proportional representation – it is long overdue and would take some of the rancour and bitterness out of politics.

Common sense is in very short supply these days.

Hugh Pender, Darlington.

WITH regard to MPs claiming exorbitant amounts of cash at the taxpayers’ expense, it surprises me that anyone is surprised at this state of affairs.

Where I live it has long been the case that people think any politicians, from the lowest to the highest level of government, are in it for the money.

I have been a regular contributor to The Northern Echo’s Tuesday Poem and have, over the past several years, sent quite a few poems on this very subject, hardly any of which have been printed.

I have constantly made the point that politicians of any stripe are only in it for what they can get out of it – and I have at last been proved correct in my assertions.

I wish the Echo had published more of these poems, and perhaps something might have been done to right the wrongs which politicians have been perpetrating for so long, although, since I am only “the little man”, I somehow doubt it.

Ken Orton, Ferryhill Station, Co Durham.

THE resignation of the Commons Speaker is not the end, but just the beginning of the end. We all know now why the Speaker spent tens of thousands of taxpayers’ money fighting for him and fellow MPs to be excluded from the Freedom of Information Act.

Why do our “found out” MPs feel they are being “honourable”

when they examine their last four years’ expenses claims?

Why limit their history of avarice? Politicians are waking up to the fact that the people vote them into office to represent them and not to eat out of the public trough.

The electorate is sick and tired of being dumbed down by politicians addicted to power.

At last, the people are starting to understand the systems and are shocked, alarmed and deeply annoyed at what they are finding out – as the furore of the dozens of letters to HAS testifies.

John Waiting, Guisborough, East Cleveland.

THERE have been many words written and spoken about MPs’ expenses claims and that some of them were downright dishonest.

This led me to thinking that, yes, it would be very nice to have all new MPs totally honest in everything they did and, of course, they in turn would expect the whole population to be honest in every way.

Now that would be interesting, would it not, and I wonder how much more of our money would be saved? Maybe quite a lot, I don’t know, because who is 100 per cent honest when it comes to making claims?

It would be interesting to know and I wonder which newspaper would investigate all the public, or would that not make good headlines?

Please withhold my name in case a couple of past employers want their pens, pencils and a few sheets of paper back.

Name supplied, Barnard Castle, Co Durham.

MANY commentators and observers of the activities inside the Palace of Westminster have reported on a decline in standards.

The credibility of Parliament and the morale of decent MPs has been undermined and perhaps what we need is a rebellion, not necessarily the sort meted out by Oliver Cromwell, but a rebellion and reform nonetheless.

Politics is at an all-time low.

The traditional parties are all exposed as morally deficient, devoid of real vision and integrity.

We need a white knight of the reforming type, whether as the new Speaker or an emerging leader – a parliamentarian with character and substance who can truly stand on his or her laurels.

Bernie Walsh, Coxhoe, Durham.

THERE is no need to provide MPs with second homes. Why not build a complex of bedsits near enough to Westminster to house them?

They don’t seem to be in the House of Commons every day or at weekends and long periods of recess.

All they need is somewhere to flop down to sleep after a “gruelling” day in Parliament.

They can then be refreshed and on the doorstep the next day.

Many redundant workers up here who have managed to find jobs hundreds of miles away have to pay for digs and still keep their mortgages going to keep a roof over their families left at home. They get no subs, but must be living hand-to-mouth rather than be on the dole.

Mrs M Elliott, Ingleton, near Darlington.

IT’S about time Gordon Brown started to be a strong leader, and stopped pussyfooting around. By this I mean sack someone – not suspend, as he is doing. This means nothing.

To hear Communities Secretary Hazel Blears going on, you’d think it was expected of MPs to make money out of buying and selling houses out of taxpayers’ money, so she must go, along with the rest of these MPs who treat the electorate with such contempt.

So, come on Mr Brown, get sacking. If you don’t, you are sure to lose any election, no matter how many promises you make because no one will believe a word you say – ever again.

Lawrence A McGowan, Sherburn Village, Durham.

LET us do away with these rags-to-riches MPs. Why do they need a second home? Why should we pay for their food? Solution: the Government should buy a property in London, such as a large hotel, where MPs can stay at a reasonable rent – one small bedroom, one lounge/office and small kitchen should suffice – and they can buy their own food and drink, like the rest of us.

Expenses should cover postage stamps, pens and pencils, a set number of phone calls and envelopes. They don’t need anything else, do they? Paper clips?

Irene Littlejohns, Tow Law, Bishop Auckland.

RE your report about Newcastle East MP Nick Brown’s expenses (Echo, May 19). I am absolutely appalled that he could have the cheek to say his expenses between 2004 and last year, which included a claim for £18,800 for food, were not unreasonable.

What all hard-working people would like to know is what these MPs actually spend their salaries on? Who wouldn’t like their council tax and utility bills paid for them?

Let’s hope the resignation of the Speaker, Michael Martin, will not be a cover to take all the blame for MPs’ expenses.

Mrs AC Lea, Darlington.

HOW interesting that Stockton South Labour MP Dari Taylor is shocked (Echo, May 21) by some of the expenses abuse by MPs, as revealed by the press.

As one of those instrumental in trying to exempt MPs from the Freedom of Information Act – thereby ensuring that these and other abuses of their position would be kept well away from the “prying eyes” of the electorate – Ms Taylor has demonstrated that she is very much part of the problem and not the solution.

Time for the electorate to deliver its verdict.

D Reed, Eaglescliffe, Stockton.

I AGREE with Middlesbrough Mayor and former police detective Ray Mallon that some MPs should be investigated over their expenses claims (Echo, May 15 and 16).

Why should the taxpayer put up with being defrauded out of thousands of pounds every year?

Stephen Beaton, Darlington.