MPs' Expenses: Half a Million

MPs have paid back nearly £500,000 so far in the expenses. That is half a million pounds, people. You could say we are looking at a £500k fraud. I know I do. 

But let's just think about that £500k figure. The MPs concerned were forced to pay that back through the revelations in The Daily Telegraph. But had we just had the redacted (i.e. crudely edited) expenses that the members of the Commons gave us under fucking duress, I do wonder just how much of that half a million pounds would have been paid back. I suspect it would be just a fraction. 

Corruption in our ruling class is clearly endemic, and the fetid feculent stench of fraud now taints every MP, regardless of whether they actually had their hands in the till or not. We need to start over, we need to raze the House of Commons to the ground and start again. Those MPs who weren't on the take should have nothing to fear - those that were, well, tough. The only way in which we can get any sort of respect back for the Commons is through a General Election. 

But such a decision would require courage, and more than anything else this scandal was aided and abetted by the cowardly silence of every MP on this issue. They'll deny us our say on this issue for as long as they can, just as they tried to hide the truth of their actions from us. But the next time we do get our say - when you are in the ballot box at the next General Election - just remember all this before you cast your vote.