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We must win back the people's trust
I WANTED to celebrate ten years of the minimum wage this week but events have clearly overtaken me.
The MP expenses row raises three questions: are the rules adequate? Were they properly enforced? Did MPs abide by those rules?
The answer to all three is clearly 'no.'
The rules have been tightened twice since the years to which current revelations refer. They are already being reviewed again by the independent Committee on Standards in Public Life.
The enforcement of the rules has clearly been pathetic. And adherence to them was in some cases poor. As a former member of the Standards committee, I know that we punished MPs for less than some of the offences that have been described. In other cases there is more smoke than fire.
Let me set out my own situation.
I have not received a penny of expenses in respect of my Buxton home. My salary is 64,766, about the same as a deputy head teacher in a medium sized comprehensive school. I have a 40-year old flat in Lambeth on which the rules entitle me to claim legitimate and necessary second home expenses. This includes the interest paid on my mortgage (but not capital repayments).
My current mortgage interest claim has fallen to under 400 per month due to the falling interest rates. My other expenditure has been proportionate and legitimate: I have no moat, chandelier, garden or sauna. Some of my furniture is second hand and I have never 'flipped' the designation of my first and second homes.
Whilst I have been diligent I have not been perfect. A few years ago I claimed more on my mortgage than I was entitled to.
This was because I had calculated that more of my mortgage payment was made up of interest than it was. I immediately made arrangements to pay back the excess over six months and this was done.
I want to see full disclosure of our detailed expenses and Parliament will do this in June. But that is not good enough. I will be posting details of the claims I made in the period covered by the recent disclosures, month by month, on my web site www.tomlevitt.org.uk. This will happen in the next ten days.
MPs generally are neither criminals nor fools; but we are all human and therefore fallible. Parliament has lost people's trust and we need to win it back. We must not return to only having rich people willing to serve in politics.
My job is to try to make the lives of ordinary people better and that's all. I am proud to be working over 60 hours each week to serve the needs of my High Peak constituents.
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Weather for Buxton
Thursday 09 February 2012
Today
Light snow
Temperature: -1 C to 1 C
Wind Speed: 7 mph
Wind direction: South west
Tomorrow
Light snow
Temperature: -2 C to 1 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: South east
