Enormous expenses but MPs want more

LETTER - It must now be clear to all that MPs cannot be trusted.

We stood by and allowed them to arrange and decide their own salary and expenses. They astutely set their basic salary at a modest £60,675 but then added about 11 allowances, ex-penses, subsidies and perks totalling £188,000!

This does not include the subsidised bars and restaurants in Westminster.

Revelations have shown serious abuse of the system which has tarnished the reputation of all MPs but has failed to stop some attempting to justify these vast sums - and indeed claiming that they deserve more!

A Conservative MP said: "The evidence suggests that MPs should be paid £75,000. We have the responsibility of making mega, mega decisions (like selling our country to the European Union), and for that we are getting the level of pay of a second tier official in a district council!"

His selective memory omits to mention that this "second tier" council official does not have access to a staffing allowance of £90,505, a winding-up allowance of £37,281 or incidental expenses allowance of £21,339.

He failed to remind us that this poor council official is also denied a communications allowance of £10,000, London supplement of £2,812 or a 40 pence per mile fuel allowance.

A Commons review sought to change the rules this week. Its success is best summed up by Nick Robinson, BBC political editor, who said: "This means MPs can claim just about as much as they do now but with much less embarrassment".

Bob Wydell, Oswestry