The Grasping Scummers

In my opinion abuses of power in the seat of Government should be stamped on extremely hard, as corruption at the heart of the nation's Government has far greater implications than elsewhere. These are people who have the future of the country in their grasp, they must show that they deserve to have our trust. Their morals should be beyond reproach.

The current lot in Parliament clearly do not deserve that trust. They have created - deliberately or not - a lax system which is open to abuse and exploitation. A system which they then turned around and blamed when public attention was drawn its abuse. But they created it.

MPs are exceptional (ie different from the ordinary working public) in that they work in two different places: their constituencies and the Houses of Parliament. These places may be hundreds of miles apart. So it seems that they have a legitimate need for two homes.

The manner in which MPs have chosen to deal with this exceptionality really demonstrates that they are not fit to set rules for themselves for these exceptional cases. So they should either they follow the same rules as everyone else with no exceptions, or exceptional rules which only apply to MPs need to be set by an independent body.

All cases of expenses abuse should be investigated with a view to prosecution for fraud and for those cases where a guilty verdict is reached, MPs should face jail or at the very least loss of their seat in Parliament and permanent ban from running for a parliamentary seat.