MPs who are being investigated for expenses fraud are trying to argue a case that they are protected by the 300-year-old Bill of Rights that gives MPs Parliamentary privilege.
Elliot Morley, the former Labour minister, and David Chaytor a Labour MP, are being investigated for claiming expenses for mortgages that no longer existed. Lawyers for the MPs are looking at whether the 1689 act could protect them from prosecution. If the Commons rule book, which has for years governed the expenses claims of MPs, is found to be covered by privilege then it could severely hamper attempts by prosecutors to bring MPs to court.
1689 ACT? DON'T MESS ABOUT WITH THE BASTARDS! Drag them out of the Commons and STRING THE THIEVING FUCKERS UP FROM THE FIRST LAMPOST!
Expenses reforms which would see peers paid a £200-a-day attendance allowance to turn up for work at the House of Lords have been described as an ‘utter insult’.
The proposals, suggested by the Salaries Review Body, follow claims that some peers abuse the £174-a-night overnight allowance. However, they called plans to prevent them from claiming for mortgage interest and first-class travel when they’re not working ‘crackers’.
Lord Palmer, a cross-bench hereditary peer, told the Daily Telegraph the £200 payment was ‘derisory’ and an 'utter insult'. He claimed lowering overnight allowances to £140 would force peers to take taxis to the outskirts of London, which he described as a 'scary experience' for older female peers.
‘The idea of having to share a compartment with a complete stranger or indeed another noble lord is completely unthinkable.’
Oh! Do you think so. You should try getting a no 47 bus home late at night when there's some fucker behind you being sick in the hood of your anorak and you're frightened to turn round and complain because she's got a 6 inch knife and she's a psychopath. Aye, it's not easy being a bus driver when the wife's been out on the piss.
