Quote of the day
“Only in a place as mad as Westminster can MPs make fat profits playing the property market with taxpayers’ money and get away with it.”
- Nick Clegg, responding to the letter he received from the Speaker John Bercow in which Bercow turned down his request to widen the scope of the audit of MPs expenses amid concerns that some of worst abusers of Commons allowances – including those who ‘flipped’ their second homes and avoided capital gains tax – are escaping punishment. Bercow, who was elected as Michael Martin’s replacement after claiming he was the right candidate to clean up Parliament, has admitted to personally using a legal loophole to avoid paying capital gains tax. Now he has ruled against broadening the Legg inquiry, claiming such an investigation would take too long. The decision was approved by the Members Estimates Committee, a group of senior MPs including Harriet Harman and her shadow George Young. (full story HERE)
Witanagemot Blogs
The City?
To be fair, the City played the property market with their own money but have since been given extra taxpayers’ money when all their dosh ran out.
Either way, Clegg has every right to be angry.
And now we know why Bercow was the overwhelmng choice of the Labour cabinet for the position of speaker. they knew he would do nothing about their previous ‘flipping’ or ‘capital gains tax fraud’.
Surely if flipping was his ally in the race to replace Martin, quite a lot of Conservatives would have voted for him too!
Isn’t Farage going to stand against bercow in the next general election? I wonder how many loyal Tories will forsake their turncoat speaker hold their noses and vote UKIP just to be rid of this Labour placeman.
He is indeed, but he’s going to lose. The Conservative vote will be too strong.
Sounds as if, like the banks, it’s back to business as usual.