Howton Grove Priory | Mobile WebsiteSharing a Vocation with the World . . .

M.P.s Expenses (Again)

Retrospective legislation in any shape or form is always abhorrent, and to that extent one can sympathize with M.P.s who feel that the Legg enquiry's conclusions are unfair and make all Parliamentarians look shady and dishonest. The trouble is that some M.P.s (and members of the House of Lords, too) have behaved dishonourably while others have acted on the basis that "if it's allowed by the rules, then it's it's all right" and made expenses claims which have a definite whiff of sulphuretted hydrogen about them. The fact that certain acts are legal does not make them right and it is surely time we all acknowledged as much. Personally, I'd have more sympathy for our M.P.s were I not troubled by the poverty afflicting so many of our fellow citizens: the young who have no jobs, nor any prospect of getting one; the elderly who must often make impossible choices between eating and heating; people who must struggle with anxiety and debt on a daily basis — the list is long. All credit, then, to those M.P.s whose expenses claims have been modest in the extreme or who have not claimed at all. Some people still believe in the ideal of public service. At least now we know who they are and can honour them for the example they give.