MPs and rail expenses
Posted by Christie Malry on October 21, 2012 at 9:14 am
The Telegraph reports this morning that many MPs have made use of a "loophole" to travel first class on rail journeys, even though the intention is for them to exercise restraint by travelling standard class. They do this because IPSA allows them to claim for the cost of a first class rail ticket where this cost is below the cost of an anytime standard class fare. And sometimes the cost of a first class ticket bought on an Advance fare costs less than the cost of a standard class ticket bought undiscounted.
Businesses wouldn't put up with this sort of behaviour. Businesses have been feeling the pinch over recent years and have clamped down on this sort of abuse. Most would insist that the cheapest ticket be bought, with a first class ticket only being allowed on the very rare occasion that the Advance first class ticket is cheaper than the Advance standard class ticket. And that's the rule that IPSA should be enforcing.
In the meantime, the way to fix this is to publicise the abusers and their abuse and the amount this has cost the public purse. Let them answer for their behaviour at the next election. MPs have shown us that they cannot be trusted with their expenses, so the only thing we can do is to continue exposing their behaviour until they are shamed into behaving better.
And it's very sad to see IPSA yet again colluding with MPs to tolerate their abuse. IPSA was set up to curb their behaviour, but it has shown that only two years after it was established it is already fully captured by the MPs it is supposed to regulate. Really it should be abolished and re-established by a proper independent body with the credibility to fix this problem once and for all.
All these rules about what can and cannot be claimed just means that there will always be loopholes. I would cal for the salary of MPs to be raised to 100k but with the total and absolute removal of all expenses. Nothing for housing. Nothing for travel. Nothing for food. Then if they make a profit it's with their own money.
While I all for stamping down on abuse - your statement about most businesses not allowing first class travel doesn't really stand up to much scrutiny - I very much doubt that the rail companies are keeping open first class travel and charging such high prices for its use solely because of demand from MPs and private individuals who do not wish to travel with the hoi-polloi.
Let us not pretend that senior corporate executives are getting away with various expense abuses that would put many MPs to shame - and they certainly wouldn't wish to be transparent on such with their shareholders. Just google Corporate entertaining and anyone will see what I mean. Just who were all those people enjoying £10,000 plus corporate hospitality packeages at the Olympics? Is it really necessary fro wifes to attend so many overseas conferences in 5* hotels in glamorous locations. Perhaps one accounts disclosure that most share holders would like to see would be the total for the expense claims of all directors of listed companies - perhaps MPs might wish to oblige!
i'm going to disagree with you here.
this 'loophole' provides an incentive to book ahead and spend less. without the 'perk' of a first class ticket, there would be no such incentive and mp's would have no reason not to just roll up to the stattion and buy an 'anytime standard' ticket.
No reason at all. Other than a sense of public duty, the fact that IPSA rules require it, a desire to obtain best value for the taxpayer, and because it's the ethical thing to do. But I take your point.