I live in the Aberconwy Constituency. Whilst Wales is part governed by Westminster I want an MP to represent Aberconwy in Westminster whilst being available to me in my constituency.
My MP can not commute between London and Conwy on a daily basis. If I want her to be available "at home" to me on occasions and to represent me in Westminster at other times, I have to accept that the "job" involves her having to have two places for her to rest her head. I have to accept, as a tax payer and a democrat, that I have to foot the bill for her so called "second home" in London through common taxation.
My MP is a common working class woman. Before she was elected she was a social worker who probably struggled to keep one home going. She desperately needed the allowance help to set up her "second home" in London, and deserved all the help that she has been given in order to make it possible for a person from her background to represent people like me as an MP.
She hasn't been mentioned in the Telegraph, but she had been tarred by the same brush! This is an affront to democracy.
The Telegraph has been feeding on this story for two weeks. In that two weeks it has mentioned about 80 MPs out of 650, few of whom are really guilty of any sort of misbehaviour.
Lets look at just the Welsh victims:
Paul Murphy asked for a boiler, condemned by a CORGI advisor, to be replaced. (Some Welsh bloggers / prats think that he should have ignored that expert advice).
Sian James is exposed for NOT claiming for a chocolate Santa, despite the HO HO HO's and the Ha Ha Ha's.
Lembit is condemned for a plasma TV that the Commons authorities refused to pay for.
So the Telegraph has found nothing against 90% of MP's. The faults it claims to have found against 5% of MP's have proved to be shit, and the minor corruption that it claims to have found against about 1% of MP's has dominated the headlines for 2 weeks whilst unemployment is rising and the economy is going down the pan.
And who benefits from this assault on democracy? The fascists in UKIP and the BNP!
The Telegraph editors and their supporters need to stand back for a minute and consider what they are doing.
This has gone beyond exposing a few bad apples. It has now become a vendetta against democracy. It is time that it stopped!
Great post.
ReplyDeleteI do think there is a systemic overinflation of entitlement within Westminster, but the fire is raining down on people who have been careful with our money in equal amounts.
What do you think about the Plaid impeachment claims? I think its fair game to campaign for it, but i am less inclined to think it is something we should pay for?
Also, can i detect a view on the 'election now' idea?
My view on that is that many of innocent will be decapitated via the fury that should be aimed at the guilty.
I agree with your post, although the public anger and the clear need for change might force Parliamentarians to consider some big changes that will make Parliament more democratic.
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