Reforming MPs pay

MPs could get a daily handout of around £150 for turning up at the Commons in return for giving up their controversial second homes allowance.

Senior MPs drawing up reforms of Parliamentary expenses are said to favour the system that would have an upper ceiling of about £24,000 a year.

Isn’t this something that the European Parliament has? I am sure I read somewhere that all they had to do to get the money was to turn up and sign the register. They weren’t needed to actually vote on anything. Infact after signing they could just go home and still get the money.

MPs expenses should be reformed but not this way. Their salaries should increase, yes you read that correctly. I don’t think they do a good job. That’s not the reason why I think they should get a higher salary. Our MPs are of low quality. We should be trying to get high quality people to become MPs like executives who earn hundreds of thousands of pounds per year. We should pay enough to get rid of the idiots and attract the people who will benefit Britain. Give them £150,000 per year and you will see more quality people wanting to become MPs.

Reform their expenses too. Don’t give them money to buy a house. Buy a plot of land in London and build enough flats to accommodate them all. They will all have to stay there. In the long term this will be a cheaper option than giving MP after MP enough to buy a house and maintain that house. At first it will be expensive but once the land is bought and the flats are built there will be very little expenses for homes. All that will be required is a little maintenance.

For the rest of the expenses there wouldn’t need to be a limit if every single expense was made public. If people knew what they were spending taxpayers’ money on they wouldn’t spend it on stupid things. Look at Scotland for an example of what this has done.

Allow them to employ family members but make that public too. If their constituents feel they are being taken for a ride they can hold them to account.

Government caught lying over bin collections

The government has been caught lying yet again. This time they have been caught lying about fortnightly bin collections. The government have been saying that there is no health risk to the public from fortnightly bin collections but a report showed different.

The report found that ending weekly collections would "significantly alter the pest infestation rates and hence the disease transmission at source", while vermin and insects could be "encouraged into the home environment".

The government didn’t just lie to the public, they also misled Parliament. When asked by the Conservatives about the bin collections they responded by saying there was "no evidence in published studies" to indicate a link between cutting collections and increased risks to health. The government weren’t lying because they refused to publish the study so while there was no evidence in published studies there was in studies which the government didn’t want to publish because it would show they were incompetent and wrong.

No trial by jury for fraud cases

The government is once again doing whatever they can to bypass any opposition. For a long time now the House of Lords has been the only opposition in Parliament. This is true with trial by jury. The government would like to get rid of jury trials for fraud cases. The House of Lords has so far resisted this freedom crushing piece of legislation that allows you to be judged by your peers however the government is tired of their opposition to their plans so they are getting ready to use the Parliament Act to force it through regardless of what the Lords want.

The Lords have resisted this for 5 years but it looks like the government is going to destroy our freedom anyway. If they stop jury trials for fraud it will just be a matter of time before they do it with other cases.

COWARDS!

Labour is filled with MPs that are nothing but cowards. According to The Sun a lot of MPs back a referendum on the European constitution but are not prepared to put their careers on the line by going public.

This means that these cowards put themselves before the welfare of this country. To them their careers come first! What a bunch of self serving political whores! These are the very people we do not want in Parliament. These politicians are far worse than the people we have in the cabinet and they are much worse than Gordon Brown. Is it too much to ask to put the welfare of your country ahead of your career?

Brown plans to destroy any opposition

It looks as if Gordon Brown is going to destroy any opposition to his government by making the House of Lords mostly elected. For atleast the last 10 years the House of Lords have been the only obstacle to this tyrannical government. If it wasn’t for the Lords we would have no choice about ID cards.

An elected House of Lords would not be good for democracy. In a representative democracy you have to have checks and balances for a representative democracy to work. Having two elected chambers will just mean that they owe their position to their party. They will then hold the party line and vote along party lines. If that happens all the Lords will become is a rubber stamp chamber. The Lords have shown time and time again that they are willing to stand up to the government. This is because they owe their position to no party so even if they are members of that party they will not take the party line. They will vote the way they think is best for the government.

Do we really want a rubber stamp chamber? Do we really want to destroy our only check on the government?

Government to cave in to Lords demands

Yesterday the Corporate Manslaughter Bill was back in the Commons. Yesterday I said that the Lords will win this showdown and it seems as though I am correct. Jack Straw said that the government wished to table "significant amendments" which could mean that they are going to do what the Lords have been saying.

Again, this is a fine example of why we need the House of Lords. They keep the government in check. The government is bad now. Can you just think how bad they would be if there was no resistance?

Parliament plays political tennis

The House of Commons and House of Lords are going up against each other once again. The Lords are showing that they are holding the government to account which the House of Commons is failing to do.

The Lords want a "lifeboat fund" for the 125,000 affected ex-employees who lost out when their final salary schemes went bust. Unfortunately in the House of Commons voting was 303 to 253 against the measure which means it now goes back to the Lords.

It seems as though Parliament is playing a game of political tennis. The latest legislation to show that is the Corporate Manslaughter Bill which the Lords want to include state institutions but the government don’t. Yesterday it was back in the Lords and they voted 186 to 157 for it to include state institutions so it once again will go back to the Commons for them to decide. It seems likely that the Lords will win this. If both houses hold their ground then the legislation dies at a certain date meaning that the government don’t get their legislation through. If they want to get it through they will have to change the legislation for it to include state institutions thereby making the Lords win.

This is a fine example of why we need the Lords. An elected lords would never behave like this which is why they should remain unelected.