Just found a possible corker in my MPs expenses

Where can you look? <dunce icon>

Our MP has quit because she did the switching thing on the houses

Yes, so did ours, but if your Hitched location is correct its not the same MP. You view them here http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8106044.stm

Thanks for the link.

What you posted sounds pretty shocking if it's all for one house, I knew boilers were expensive but nearly £15k sounds like a lot of money!

Oooo thanks for the link - mine has spent in total £151000 which is way too high - all seem fairly legit but just seen a £5k cost for replacement windows, lots of kitchen appliances, the thing that is worrying though is the amount of self printing surely using a digital printers would have been a cheaper option.

IPx

There is a Labour MP who was my MP where I used to live, I've just checked her expenses (I can't stand her so I'm looking for ammunition) and she's spent £168,000 over the course of a year in expenses! WTF??

My taxes have paid for her to reupholster her furniture to the tune of about £800 and there are other dodgy things on there. I'm really not happy, but on the plus side it says the ? is standing down at the next election.

Sorry, forgot to say thanks for the link.

Started reading my MP's - she's claimed £154000 which seems a lot - but it felt a bit intrusive and sneaky so I stopped. Also she had claimed for really dull stuff ?

My local MP spent £148,000 between 2007 and 2008. He seems to have a really bad stationery and mobile phone habit as that's what most of the cash appears to have been spent on.

He's a cracking MP though, I've been really pleased with what he's done for the community. He's very approachable and accessible to his constituents and always shows his face at community events. He's brough a number of local issues into the wider arena and seems to fight hard for solutions.

In fact, I may even email him through the website he pays over £500 a month to maintain, to tell him how good I think he is. ?

The MP in the north of our town clocked up expenses of about £4000 last year. There isn't a 0 missing on that figure, just 4k. He is a briliant MP. In touch with his contstituents, he turns up to vote, and votes according to concience and constituency wants rather than how his parties whip dictates. Sigh, he is a rareity. I wish his was our MP.

Cadet, I don't feel bad. This is taxpayers money. If they want to buy porn, duck islands, or treat dry rot in their partners houses in complete privacy then they can do that by not claiming our money to pay for it.

Ok, well, that sheds a slightly different light on it. I have no clue how much would be reasonable to claim on expenses. Obviously, if one of your local MP's can claim as little as £4k over a year, the amount my local MP claims does seem like a hell of a lot in comparison. Sadly, I have no idea of whether claiming, for example, £6k a year for website maintenance is reasonable or necessary.

I'm so happy that ours got £850 for a tv and dvd player. that could have paid for my next round of fertility drugs ?

i honestly don't understand any of it. i can see that, yes, they need somewhere to live if they are not local to london, and fair enough they shouldn't be out of pocket for it

but why do their second houses need tarting up at our expense? why can't the rules state they can rent someone and be reimbursed for that?

Well quite KTC, when you put it like that it clarifies the mind. I'd be all for some purpose built MP accomodation that was available to them when they were in town. MP's within a reasonable commute should not be able to claim for a second home at all.

After the 2012 games, maybe they could all go live in the Olympic Village??!

Perhaps its just me, I can't see what you think is wrong there. When we took out our boiler and heating insurance, we had to pay for a service and inspection before they would cover us, with any problems being rectified before the insurance would kick in. That would explain the bill in January.

To be honest, whilst I understand the outrage at the way the MPs have plundered the public purse, I also think that for the vast majority of people, if they were told that doing x would mean not having to pay capital gains tax on the sale of a house, they would do it too. I know I would. After all, it's advice like that which keeps accountants in business.

I realise this is small potatoes compared to some of the other expense claims but taking care of the pennies makes the pounds take care of themselves. I think my MP (Ann Cryer - Keighley) needs a small reality check. There's a Savers in Keighley just round the corner from her constituency office where she can pick up her tea, coffee, toilet roll and cleaning products at a fraction of the price she's claiming for now! Support your local economy and all that!!!!

Take note Mrs Cryer - Toilet Duck does not cost £2.69 in Keighley! ?

Firstly, if she has just spent nearly 15K on a new boiler and pipework in August 07 so it should still be under warranty in Jan 08 and therefore not need a £1500 repairs and service. So a) she didn't need the insurance and b)why the £1500 bill when it should still be under warranty AND was also insured?

Secondly, I think that you are missing a very big point about MP who flipped to avoid capital gains tax. She not only was an MP, she worked for the treasury. Surely most people would think that whilst not illegal, that is pretty immoral?

As I said, the insurance was only taken out in December, so the bill claimed for in January was probably the service that is necessary before the insurance is valid. I'm sure you would agree that it is more prudent to have the insurance than risk another huge bill down the line.

With regard to second home flipping, I'm not saying it doesn't stink of being morally wrong, just that, if I am honest, I know I would do it, therefore I don't feel I can judge anyone else for doing it, just because they do a different job to me. Not missing a trick at all, just applying the same standards to everyone.

Firstly, if she has just spent nearly 15K on a new boiler and pipework in August 07 so it should still be under warranty in Jan 08 and therefore not need a £1500 repairs and service. So a) she didn't need the insurance and b)why the £1500 bill when it should still be under warranty AND was also insured? Secondly, I think that you are missing a very big point about the MP who flipped to avoid capital gains tax. She not only was an MP, she worked for the treasury. Surely most people would think that whilst not illegal, that is pretty immoral?

I must be a bit morally corrupt then, because I know that if I were told I could do something, completely legal, and within the rules, that would mean I saved around £10,000 of tax, I would do it.

It may well stink to the heavens of being wrong, but if its legal, and within the rules, I don't see how I can judge. People up and down the country are doing all sorts of things to reduce tax. Yes, she works for the treasury and should be against this kind of thing, I completely agree. But I cannot judge her for doing exactly what I would do.

However, that said, I do think reform in the way these things are policed can only be a good thing. No-one should be able to not only set the rules they operate by, and also be responsible for ensure the rules are adhered to, in the way that MPs seem to have been doing.

I can totally see EllieJays point. I would also use any legal means to my disposal to avoid tax. You may not like the rules, but they are there, so they can be used.

My biggest problem with the MPS expenses scandal is the ejits who signed off and paid out these expenses. If they were not asking for evidence of payments they were not running an effective expenses system and they should expect people will try and get away with whatever they can.

I've just re read your initial post and it doesn't mention that she bought the boiler or that the boiler was new, so not sure why you've assumed its under warrenty?

I would have read that (as elliejay) as she needed the work doing to bring the boiler into an insurable condition? Mind you it is a lot, she would have possibily been better off getting a new one.

Generally I'd agree with Elliejay (although I wouldn't personally do anything I found immoral to avoid tax). However, I think in the case of switching, it is so far outside the spirit of the rules and so clearly dishonest, playing the expenses system off against the CGT regime, that I think it's pretty obviously wrong, even in the absence of a specific rule.

I think the question of whether it's illegal isn't necessarily the right one- MPs resign over all sorts of things that fall short of illegality. If their conduct is so immoral as to cause such disgust among the electorate and effectively destroy the whole relationship of trust bewteen the public and their MPs, that's bad enough IMO.

Mine seems to be claiming about £100 monthly for "DIY materials" and another £100 monthly for "furnishings". he claimed just over £150k last year.

i wonder if he was doing up his house in order to flip it, and sell it on without having to pay capital gains tax? ?

Mine has spent £151,000 and some of that was £542.95 on carpets!

Just seen mine has claimed for £1,000 for decorating his kitchen, £600 for a new 32" LCD tv and nearly £200 on bed linen.

Because part of the £15k bill is £3k for a brand new condensing boiler. So it was new in August 07. But you are right I didn't put that it my original post.

Mines claimed a £3k council tax bill twice in consecutive months!!!

Can't believe mine has put in a 35p claim for a pint of milk.

I think it's a bit unfair to complain about small claims just because they are small. One can't on the one hand expect MPs to be scrupulous about what they're claiming and on the other be annoyed when scrupulousness leads to lots of little claims. Presumably they all have 35p for milk here and £1 for stamps there- over time I imagine it adds up to quite a lot. As long as the claims are legitimate, it doesn't bother me at all if they're small.

It isn't so much the cost of it that surprises me. I can't see why a pint of milk is a legitimate expense?

Things like milk, coffee, teabags etc for the office seem fine to me- I don't see the problem.

I think flipping to avoid CGT is appalling when the furnishing & repair of and the interest on the mortgage of said property has been paid TAX FREE TO THE MP by the taxpayer. WTF? Let's just scrap income tax for MP's altogether shall we? And VAT, let's have them all claim all their VAT back too.