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Why are we paying your council tax Ben?

21/05/09 - 0 comments

As the scandal over MP's expenses continues unabated, Ben Bradshaw, Labour MP for Exeter, has published his full expense claims for the last 4 years on his website.

In an open letter he states that he has campaigned for MP's expenses to be made public (which he has) and says: "I have consistently claimed less than any other MP in Devon and Cornwall".

I wonder if this kind of excuse would work for a murderer? 'I killed less people than any of the other serial killers in the South West...'.

We should point out that while he is one of the MP's with least expenses that have been claimed for (396th out of 645 in the whole UK), as a general trend his expenses do seem to be rising year on year.

Over the last 4 years he has claimed for £37,000 in mortgage payments but more interestingly around £4,000 for Council Tax payments. Shouldn't this be the kind of thing that is coming out of your wages?

According to the Guardian, an MP's salary is £64,766 a year. We're pretty sure that's a lot more than the average constituent is earning, so why are we still propping you up when the rest of us have to pay our own way?

Yes we understand that you have legitimate expenses to cover, but in this climate you need to be whiter than white, not just being seen to appear that way.

Oh and Ben, if you're reading, please don't take this personally, I don't trust any of the lying, scheming, parasitic bastards who run this country.

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