Editorial
Outrage in Britain over expenses scandal
Rarely has the House of Commons, the mother of Parliaments, caused so much outrage and anger in Britain as it has during the past few days over the series of revelations by The Daily Telegraph about the extent to which a number of MPs, Labour and Conservative, shamelessly and scandalously tapped parliamentary allowances and expenses for purely personal use unconnected with parliamentary duties. There have been instances over the years when trust in politicians nose-dived following reports of wrongdoing but the latest disclosures reveal what the newspaper has aptly described as a culture of greed and venality that is genuinely shocking.
Even though, unsurprisingly, the story did not climb to upper regions of general news discussion in Malta, with many preferring to concentrate their attention on Malta's performance at the Eurovision song festival, the implications of the disclosures are surely serious enough to warrant more than a passing interest as they expose flaws that can very well happen elsewhere. Hopefully, the scandal has put on high alert offices within other Parliaments in the democratic world, including the European Parliament, charged with policing the expenses system to ensure it is not abused as flagrantly as it has by MPs in Britain.
The surprise is that, despite the efforts made to block requests for details of expenses to be released, it took so long for such abuses to be exposed. But then the world is full of surprises. Who would have thought, for instance, that some of the prime bankers of the world would bring so much havoc to the financial system, triggering in the process an economic downturn that has pushed so many thousands of people out of work? In the wake of the revelations, the Speaker of the House of Commons will resign on June 21, two MPs have been suspended, a junior minister is stepping down and a number of those who flagrantly abused the system have undertaken to pay back the money they wrongly claimed.
The list of abuses disclosed so far is endless. One has claimed more than £66,000 for his family home, including hundreds of pounds on refurbishing his swimming pool. Another put in a claim for work on his helipad and received thousands of pounds for gardening bills. Another sent to Parliament receipts for hundreds of sacks of horse manure and yet another billed the taxpayer £115, plus VAT, for workmen to replace 25 bulbs at his second home in west London.
All this brings into play the integrity of all members of Parliament. Very often, whenever abuses are brought to light, attention is drawn by some MPs to the sacrifices they make in the course of representing their constituents. But this is usually too feeble an excuse to warrant any consideration; sacrifices do not justify wrongdoing. The Daily Telegraph was clear and to the point on this when it said: "Politicians are not doing us an honour by sitting on the green benches; we are doing them an honour by investing in them the power to make decisions about our daily lives as our elected representatives".
Even more to the point is the newspaper's call for the sense of vocation to be recovered: "What has been all but lost is the sense of true vocation - a calling to politics heard by clever, successful and scrupulous citizens for whom the whole subject of expenses is marginal." Politicians all over the world are prompt to plead a strong sense of vocation but voters do not always see evidence of this in their behaviour.
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D Zammit
May 20th 2009, 21:41
@ Mr De Martino
How often do we have to tell you that in other countires such things results in resignations??
R.Gauci
May 20th 2009, 20:41
@ Giov De Martino
Yes you are right they happen everywhere there are men from local counsils to Goverments!
GiovDeMartino
May 20th 2009, 17:00
How often do I have to say that THESE THINGS do not happen in Malta only. They happen wherever there is man.
John F. Galea
May 20th 2009, 16:28
Shame on most of the British MPs. That is a good number of those entrusted with the running of the country should be behind bars. What was the internal auditor doing?. Or better still what about the audit examiners of the UK National Audit Office?. Were they hibernating or day dreaming?
It is hoped and God forbid that such an outrageous scandal does not prevail in other democracies lIke Matta and the EU at Brussels. Politicians everywhere do their utmost to win votes prior the elections to win a seat from where they can dominateand then to hell with the electorate. Hope that our checks and balances do function well.
Jim Hamilton
May 20th 2009, 14:23
Yes, the British public is outraged, and quite rightly so...... At a time of economic strife, the very people that should be leading the country have been caught with thier hand in the till.
Confidence in all government parties has now been lost, and it will take a lot of hard work for them to gain the publics trust. again
With the European Elections due shortly, the question that you find yourself asking is, "Are they any different"? Are they all squeeky clean in the hallowed halls of Brussels?
Of course the answer is.... NO,.............Just log on to you-tube for confirmation.
If you remember about five years ago, the then chief accountant in Brussels, Marta Andreasen was sacked for doing her duty....... Her crime? .....She refused to sign the EU Commission accounts that were a licence for fraudsters to steal the tax-payers money.
She knew, just like most people that there was blatent corruption within the rank and file, (although the heirarchy were no better) she was prepared to blow the whistle, the person who was the prime mover for her dismissal was none other than Neil Kinnock, who was the supposed fraud-buster within the EU.
Pierre Micallef
May 20th 2009, 12:04
I would have expected the Times' editorial on this scandal to seize the opportunity to point out the absolute need for a Maltese Freedom of Information Act that limits exemptions (such as those afforded to the House of Commons) to a bare minimum, in order to bolster controls on abuse of public funds. The scandal in the UK would not have emerged had the legislation passed by MPs themselves to cover their expenses (i.e. with addresses hidden from the press) come into force in July.
Having said that, it's a sign of the UK's being a bastion of democracy that the scandal emerged at all (God bless a truly free press!) - MEP's expenses make this pale by comparison, whereas as it is we can only wonder at how public funds are spent by poltiicians on our own shores.
J. Borg
May 20th 2009, 10:35
Oh......what a naughty bunch of British MPs and political parties
They should get some lessons from our altruistic, honest, and self-sacrificing Maltese MPs and political parties!
Paul Smith
May 20th 2009, 10:35
Members of the house of commons have been playing the UK property market - no wonder all there policies were aimed at keeping house price inflation going pricing young families out of owning a property, our MP's were buying property and flipping it for a profit at the tax payers expense, not to say this does not go on in Malta. The Maltese government has had a vested interest in keeping the price of property high. It's also worth mentioning that Malta comes around 28th in the UN's world corruption leauge, although saying that the UK must have shot up the ranks now.