All your expenses are belong to us

The hits just keep on coming for the beleaguered British MPs at the centre of the ongoing expenses scandal. Despite the resignation yesterday of Michael Martin, the Speaker of the House of Commons, arguments about who claimed what and when just don’t seem to be going away. Perhaps more interesting than the individual oversights – or thefts as they are known outside of Westminster – are the MPs who are simply giving up and walking away.

Today, Anthony Steen, a Tory grandee announced he was resigning his seat after claiming £87,729, “including payments for tree surgery, guarding his shrubs against rabbits, maintaining a separate cottage and overhauling his private sewage system” according to The Telegraph. This comes after Douglas Hogg announced he was standing down after being caught claiming £2,000 towards the cost of clearing his moat.

But is justice seen to be done when these affluent and aging gentlemen decide to take early retirement? I think not. The fact that they have chosen to walk off into the sunset, returning to their part taxpayer-funded mansions after years of excessive expense claims rather adds insult to injury. More equitable would be a requirement for MPs guilty of claiming more than was necessary to repay those amounts claimed in full with interest and carry out say 1000 hours of community service in their constituencies, before being stripped of their generous final salary pensions.

While party leaders are falling over themselves to assure voters that they will never again be naughty little piggies, none of them have so far suggested how taxpayers can be fairly compensated for their losses. Without such a scheme, the resignation of an MP caught with his or her snout in the trough is nothing more than an easy way out.