WillPatching.com

UK Health Minister Ann Keen has paid premiums of over £10,000 a year for a joint life insurance policy she took out to cover her and her 70 year old husband.

Nothing remarkable about that - except she claimed the premiums as expenses which means they are being funded by the British taxpayer.  

Both these Labour MP’s are eligible for generous pension/death benefits, so how could they even think such a claim is even vaguely justified?

And why does Keen need the old man insured for £430k? Apparently she says she had to buy insurance to cover their mortgages for their expensive second home.

Well that’s a reasonable expense isn’t it?

Er, well no, it’s not.

In fact the Inland Revenue should investigate Keen’s expenses as they were paid free of income tax, but to qualify as such they must be “wholly, necessarily and exclusively” incurred for work or business purposes.

Public pressure must be brought to bear on this issue - according to the Sunday Times the Keens have siphoned off £100,000 in expenses to pay for their second property in the heart of London. Perhaps the Keens feel their first home, in Brentford, West London, is a little far from the House of Commons to commute…

This latest example of Westminster’s moral vacuum and abuse of position should guarantee all MP’s expenses are made public.

But what will happen to Keen?

Nothing, apparently - though in my view this is tantamount to fraud. It seems she won’t even get a slapped wrist. A Department of Health spokesman said the Keens’ claims were within the rules.

And I note The Sunday Times, with masterful understatement, calls it a ’scam’. Unbelievable.

This is a serious issue on two counts: firstly the abuse of taxpayers’ hard earnt cash and secondly the money should be taxed as income unless it is being claimed for a legitimate business purpose.

The Inland Revenue should send a team of inspectors to go through all MP’s expenses for the last seven years and demand back taxes in every instance where the “wholly, necessarily and exclusively” rule cannot be applied.

Otherwise it literally is one rule for them and another for us.

As I said before, it seems to me that anyone who aspires to be a politician these days is probably not fit to be one… Pigs and troughs come to mind.

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‘Scam’ Link:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article3999122.ece