Well, I have just read the following and have become so enraged by it I think I am capable of comitting murder.
Golden parachute deals net MPs £10.3m
MPs who resigned or lost their seats at the general election received more than £10.3 million in controversial "golden parachute" payments, according to official figures obtained by The Daily Telegraph.
By Holly Watt and Caroline Gammell
Published: 7:00AM BST 28 Oct 2010
56 Comments
Previous
1 of 4 Images
Next
Margaret Moran, the former Labour MP for Luton South, claimed £22,500 on dry rot at her seaside house a hundred miles from her constituency Photo: Abbie Trayler-Smith
Douglas Hogg, who submitted a claim for clearing his moat, is thought to have qualified for one of the biggest payments Photo: PA
Peter Viggers, the former Conservative MP for Gosport, claimed £1,645 for a duck house in the garden pond of his Hampshire home Photo: AFP/Getty Images
Andrew Mackay and Julie Kirkbride, the husband and wife former Conservative MPs, between them claimed parliamentary expenses for both their homes Photo: IAN JONES
The MPs received an average of more than £46,000 each in payments that were described as "monstrous" by a sleaze watchdog.
A total of 220 politicians, including dozens of MPs who were forced to stand down in the wake of the expenses scandal, received the payouts. The first £30,000 of the handout is tax-free.
<!-- BEFORE ACI -->
Related Articles
The House of Commons is refusing to disclose exactly how much each MP received. It said the money was paid to "assist with the transition back into a non-parliamentary life". The payment is in addition to MPs' gold-plated final salary pensions.
Every MP eligible for the "resettlement grant" is understood to have applied for the money within weeks of leaving Parliament. Those who are thought to have qualified for the biggest payments include the former Conservative MPs Andrew MacKay and Douglas Hogg, who submitted a claim for clearing his moat.
An official review into parliamentary expenses recommended that the payments be abolished.
The money each MP received depended on their age and length of service. The maximum payment is a year's salary – £64,766 after the last election.
Last night, the taxpayer-funded payouts were condemned. Sir Alistair Graham, the former standards chief, said: "I am sure there will be continued public anger that MPs seem to want to continue to milk the system even though they know it will strengthen public feeling about previous abuses of public funds.
"To continue to receive the resettlement grant cannot be justifiable and I think many members of the public will find it unacceptable."
He added: "It is people who have taken the decision to step down and who are going to receive very generous pensions who I think are much less defensible. It seems to me not to be a justified use of public funds."
Martin Bell, the former independent MP and anti-sleaze campaigner, said: "I do not see there is any justification in paying those who are standing down. They have got a pension anyway. There is no cause for a payment for an MP who is standing down, none whatsoever.
"For the others you could make a case. They are strictly out of a job – it is a little bit like being relegated from the Premiership and they need some kind of parachute.
"But in this case the parachute does seem to be unnecessarily wide, particularly given the economic climate."
The cost of the golden parachute payments has been disclosed by the House of Commons for the first time following a Freedom of Information request from
The Daily Telegraph.
The Commons said that: "To date, resettlement grants have been paid to 220 ex-MPs, the amount paid in total to date is £10,316,879.26, this is the gross amount paid. The first £30,000 of the grant is tax free, the remainder is subject to tax and NI."
The parliamentary authorities refused to disclose how much had been paid to each MP. It said: "We consider that disclosure is not necessary and that the interests in disclosure do not outweigh those of Members.
"It is up to Members whether they claim it and that decision would seem to be based on their personal financial position or their view of their entitlement to claim it, both of which are personal issues concerning someone who is no longer a Member. The grant is also intended to assist with the transition back into a non-parliamentary life, it is not paying for expenses incurred due to parliamentary duties. All of that adds up to more of a private issue, rather than a public one."
However, the parliamentary authorities said that the amount each MP was eligible to receive could be calculated, as the formula for assessing each payment was public. Using this formula, at least 40 MPs, including John Hutton, the former Cabinet Minister and Ann Widdecombe, who is currently appearing on
Strictly Come Dancing and George Galloway the Respect MP, qualify for a year's salary in "resettlement grants".
Others, including Margaret Moran, the Labour MP who is currently being investigated by the police for her claims, is likely to have received £54,403, while Julie Kirkbride, the Conservative MP, would qualify for a payment of more than £30,000.
Dozens of MPs who left politics at the last election employed family members as secretaries or assistants, and they would also have been entitled to redundancy pay.
Former Labour ministers also received severance pay when they left office, receiving more than £1 million in total.
Only four MPs were specifically barred from receiving the resettlement grant. Three Labour MPs had their payments blocked by John Bercow, the Speaker, because they were facing criminal charges over their expenses. David Chaytor, Elliot Morley and Jim Devine will not receive the payment until their trials are over. In February, Mr Morley, whose fraud trial is due to begin next month, said: "I think withholding the resettlement goes against natural justice."
A fourth Labour MP, Harry Cohen, was barred from receiving his pay-off by the standards and privileges committee after he was censured over his claims for a second home.
The last election saw a record number of MPs leave Parliament following the expenses scandal and Labour's landslide defeat.
After the next election, MPs will not receive resettlement grants, although they will continue to receive up to £40,609 in "winding-up expenses".
MPs also have some of the most generous final-salary pensions in Europe, although David Cameron has proposed an end to the gold-plated schemes in future.
John O'Connell, deputy research director at the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "This is a huge sum of money, especially with the public finances in such bad shape.
"What's more, most of the MPs receiving this payment stood down voluntarily so it's a bit of a stretch to call it a redundancy payment."
