Angela raynor

Wasn't the 10k for MPs to setup virtual offices for their staff, rather than just for themselves? But other than that, agree with every word. It's amazing how minor / non-issues can be used to deflect from atrocious behaviours.

 

The personalised is a way to make things look bad apple offer it for free when you buy them

 

I got my AirPods on work expenses also. Didn’t get them personalised because I didn’t want to, but you can do for free and it makes sense if they’re going to be in a location where a lot of people have them.

 

Moat cleaning takes some beating, but I think the duck house just tops it.

 

There's people dying of a virus, there's other people dying because of the way we've handled the virus, there's people losing their jobs, their houses, their sanity and their reason to live. There are MPs who were entrusted with making the decisions on how we handled the virus who gave contracts to help handle the virus to their mates. Multi-million pound contracts to people with no experience. Many have lost loved ones and we've all been stripped of our civil liberties. But hey, look at this, someone's got some headphones for work. We're broken.

 

The £10k was for their "office costs"... so yes, it could be used for their staff, but "office costs" are the next scandal in waiting and don't get scrutinised like MP expenses so (though I believe allsorts of ridiculous stuff still gets through).

 

I'm pretty sure this thread is straight out of the Nudger WUM Playbook.

 

I got mine as a birthday present , they aren’t very good really She probably got them for Zoom calls and the noise cancelling function

 

Business people claim for all sorts of things from Mars bars upwards on expenses even though they earn £50k plus. I know, I've helped process them. Now if it was meat pies I could understand

 

This has nothing to do do with any side of the argument but when i was an apprentice at 16 I had to buy all my own tools out of my £5 a week wages (before deductions ) lol, how times have changed .

 

Moat cleaning is bad enough but cost of re-filling it and the replacement of a 'ducking stool' for chastising the local plebs who incurred his wrath was a bridge to far IMO

 

Most MPs have used very little of this, to be fair. This money includes is for providing computers, printers,paper,postage for staff where it is required. These are all protected by IPSO and secure, Phones too. A lot of constituency offices were not set up for home working, just like the rest of us. I have met Angela Rayner once ,I can't remember if she mentioned a hearing impairment. That would explain a personalised pair,as a mould would have to be taken.
650 MPs claiming their full £10,000 allowance, equates to @£6.5million. A large amount I grant you but the laptops for schools programme is substantially more per person and not good value.

 

I thought after I'd posted earlier if it was Rayner who had an issue with hearing, I certainly recall a female MP does, but I can't recall with complete certainty.

I don't disagree about poor value for money, and that equates to decisions they make for others and for themselves. I don't know how much a typical efficient honest government should cost (for our scale), but ours is full of waste, excess and exception.

We're so accustomed to hearing huge sums of money (and I suspect this government is being very intentional in doing this all the more) that "just" £6.5m seems a modest amount. But there are plenty more than that £6.5m that gets spent and plenty of things that require much less investment, but aren't being given the priority.

And just touching on the constituency offices, it's sad to hear that when virtual working is now incredibly easy and very cost effective to do.

 

Non- story, desperate Tory supporter times calls for desperate Tory supporter measures.

 

Good thinking from the lass,Personalised in case she loses them and doesn’t have to submit expenses for another pair.

 

Personalised for free too.

 

I’m no Tory supporter

 

Really, there’s a surprise

 

Hard to get excited about this with all the COVID problems going on.
What I would say is irrespective of the party it probably points to the fact that MP’s haven’t learnt from the previous expense fiasco.
It seems ridiculous to me that when we as a country are struggling for cash MP’s are allowed to claim that kind of money for headphones on expenses.
She could have got a perfectly good suitable pair for way less than that. And it’s likely if one sat it they all are.

 

Each MP is responsible for their own constituency office. How much could we save if it was a professional, civil service-led, service with fully trained, professional staff able to deal with the majority of public enquiries?