25-08-10, 03:46 PM
|
 |
Moderator
|
|
Join Date: Jun 2009
Posts: 9,038
|
|
MPs describe expenses system as 'abortion' and reduce staff to tears
MPs describe expenses system as 'abortion' and reduce staff to tears - Telegraph
|
Quote:
|
An MP repeatedly shouted that the new expenses system was an “abortion” during a meeting with officials, according to records that disclose in full the abusive and sometimes violent reaction of politicians to the stricter regime.
Another MP hit the computer of an official at the new Parliamentary allowances watchdog and threw paper at him, while a female member warned she was “going to murder someone” during a training session.
One male MP reduced a volunteer with the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority to tears as he was being told how to submit his expenses claims, and another turned up at its offices just to declare that he would “attack” the organisation at every step and to claim that its senior staff were “idiots”.
The details of “bullying” and “intimidating” behaviour towards IPSA workers and volunteers, published by the watchdog in response to Freedom of Information requests, are likely to heighten fears that many MPs have still not accepted the changes made to their expenses system since its widespread abuse was disclosed by The Daily Telegraph more than a year ago.
In order to restore trust and transparency, it was agreed that payments for second home and office expenses should be handled by a new, independent body rather than the House of Commons fees office, and that claims would have to be made by a computerised system rather than on pieces of paper. In addition, MPs are no longer allowed to claim as much as they previously could on rent nor obtain home furnishings.
Some MPs have objected strongly to the new regime being imposed on them by IPSA as they believe it is too bureaucratic and time-consuming, as well as not leaving them with enough money to run their constituency offices or homes outside Westminster.
It has been disclosed that IPSA staff introduced an unofficial football-style system of red and yellow cards to discipline MPs who were rude to them, and put up signs stating that abuse would not be tolerated.
Now IPSA has published logs of 10 “incidents” recorded by staff since the general election, which disclose the full extent of the hostile treatment they have received. However the names of the MPs involved have been – like many of the expenses claims published by Parliament – redacted.
The first states that an MP travelling in a lift described his experience of the new expenses system as “awful” and declined an offer of help, explaining that all IPSA staff were “------- idiots”.
Late last month, according to the second incident, an MP met an IPSA official with three of his staff in attendance, creating an “intimidating” atmosphere as they greeted the scheme with “ridicule and derision”.
As the member was taken through the new expenses system, he repeatedly exclaimed: “This system is a ------- abortion!”
The IPSA worker said they found this “deeply inappropriate and inoffensive” but the MP’s staff “laughed and agreed” with the term.
The MP went on to claim that only “rich people and losers” would want to be politicians as a result of the new system, and that Prof Sir Ian Kennedy, the IPSA chairman, “has no idea what we do”.
On May 10th, just days after the general election, an MP turned up at IPSA’s office to announce he would not be taking part in an induction session and “threw his personal details form across the desk”.
When told he would have to do so, he became “angry and aggressive” and “struck the laptop on the facilitator’s desk and loomed over them in an intimidating manner”.
The following day, an IPSA volunteer “burst into tears” after spending 10 minutes trying to explain the system to an MP who was “very difficult and disruptive”.
The MP claimed the system “reduced him to a cipher” and made him “not want to represent his country as an MP”, although he later brought a box of chocolates to apologise.
At another training session the next day, a female MP was “rude, abrupt, disparaging”, refusing to sign a form as required and then stating: “I am going to murder someone today.”
Another MP appeared at the door of the IPSA office just to “aggressively” declare: “I am going to attack you at every step.”
A female MP turned up stating: “I want my Travelcard!” and when told it had not arrived, declared that IPSA staff had “obviously lied to her”.
Another woman politician refused to leave the watchdog’s office until she had received her Travelcard, rang the Commons Speaker to tell him what was happening and refused to let IPSA staff answer their telephones.
An IPSA spokesman said: “These instances relate to the early days of operation. IPSA is focusing on getting on with its job which is managing the new regime governing MPs’ expenses – that means checking and processing thousands of claims each week. Last week alone, for example, IPSA handled 4,000 claims and paid £650,000 to MPs.”
|
Wow. If I yelled every time I came up against retarded administration I'd never speak in a normal tone.
If so many of them think it's that stupid then maybe it is. I'd like to have more details.
__________________
Standard disclaimer: the disgusting statements contained in this post are the views of the poster, and unless specified do not represent the views of the moderators or the site's owners.
|
.gif "Laughing (2)")
Linear Mode
