Future
For the Past:
Set up twenty ‘tax-payer teams' each of five people across the country under the tutelage and supervision of KPMG and trained by the Telegraph team. The members of these teams will be recruited from the tens of thousands of people who currently have reduced pensions because of Gordon Brown’s Pensions theft. The people need to be literate, numerate and be able to use computers.
They will be rewarded with a Tax-Free Honorarium of the sum of £20 per hour worked, paid weekly, plus their reasonable travelling expenses to a KPMG office near their home.
Recognising that there is an obligation under British Law for all organisations to protect an individual from temptation, their terms of reference will be to find all the ‘Honest MPs’ and issue a Certificate to them and also to find all cases of:
- Alleged fraud like the claims for costs where the costs were actually less than those claimed for, so that these can be put forward for formal prosecution
- MPs have effectively run a business of upgrading and then selling their ‘second homes’ as this business gives rise to income, corporation and capital gains tax together with the normal financial penalties for not disclosing the income to HMR&C, so that these can be put forward for formal action
- Expenses not being reasonable and not being ‘wholly, necessarily and exclusively’ in the course of their parliamentary duties for example travel and accommodation expenses incurred when also conducting business for other duties eg consultancy, other employment or non-executive directorship appointments. These expenses will need to be repaid together with any financial benefit created as a result, for example the rise in house values of houses funded by the tax-payers
- Other misuse of the expenses system
MPs and Peers can review their own claims and refund monies which do not comply with these strictures and of reasonableness; such repayments will be taken into account in being able to issue an ‘Honest MP Certificate’.
Any sitting MP will need to show his ‘Honest Joe’ Certificate when standing for re-elction.
For the future:
- Do away with ‘Grace and Favour’ properties
- Develop a secure IT communication and voting system such that members only need to visit
- Reimburse only actual expenses for travelling to
- Maintain a multi-user diary for MPs to enter details of their WNE (wholly, necessasrily and exclusively) visits to London to support their expense claims.