Last week I wrote how I felt Sir Thomas Legg had done Parliament and the country a disservice. Here are two more examples explaining why my view has not changed.
The Liberal Democrat MP, Julia Goldsworthy, received her letter from Sir Thomas. Read it here. She has been asked for mortgage details before she became an MP.
Frank Field, the former Labour minister, who was not branded a cheat when the Telegraph revelations came to light, has been told to hand over £7,000. He is fighting against this, and so he should. Legg should have been rooting out the fiddlers and cheats, rather than branding all MPs as fiddlers and cheats.
Frank Field is fighting to clear his name. He feels - quite rightly in my opinion - he has done nothing wrong. You cannot legislate in retrospect. What's happened has happened. Those accused of fraud should be dealt with by the courts. Tighter rules need to be put in place, so every MP knows what can and cannot be claimed. Transparency is needed and an entirely independent body should regulate MPs' pay, allowances and expenses. This is the way forward. Tarnishing the reputations of honest people is not.
4 comments:
Andrew have a look at http://the-red-rag.blogspot.com/2009/06/sainted-frank-fields-halo-slps.html from last June.
Hi Andrew, Thanks for getting me going on this. I have a different view which I have updated at Saint Frank of Birkenhead fights to keep hold of his halo
The British government legislates in retrospect quite often, why should it be inflicted on them too?
Legislating in retrospect is morally wrong. It really is as simple as that.
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