ruddock
an interesting comment has appeared on joan ruddock’s website relating to sleaze allegations from the mail on sunday
We are not involved in any sleaze allegations except of the newspaper’s own making. Details of expenses claimed by MP’s are available to the public on the Parliament website. I have not made any claims for costs on the London home I share with my partner Frank. He (in common with most other MPs) has claimed the living away from home allowance. The claim covers the interest payments on the mortgage taken out to purchase his constituency home in Aberdeen. No claims have been made on the subsequent loan taken out for entirely private reasons. No rules have been breached and we will not hesitate to take legal action against anyone who suggests otherwise. No further comment will be made.
can’t find anything on the mail on sunday’s site as to what the story was about, however a couple of observations about joan’s comment
I have not made any claims for costs on the London home I share with my partner Frank
I don’t doubt this for a minute however i do wonder what the £106k that she has claimed over the last 6 years in ‘incidental expenses’ and £12k in ‘london supplements’ were spent on?
Also, her statement is quite specific that she has not made any claims for the costs on the London home she shares with Frank Doran (MP for Aberdeen North). As this statement is presumably a carefully worded response to said sleaze allegations i wondering how telling it is that she doesn’t make the same claim about her partner Frank (who claimed £127k in incidental expenses over the last 6 years)
He (in common with most other MPs) has claimed the living away from home allowance. The claim covers the interest payments on the mortgage taken out to purchase his constituency home in Aberdeen.
In addition to the £127k mentioned above, over the last 6 years Frank has also claimed another £119k in additional costs allowances which is the category of expense allowance that MP’s can utilise to pay for second homes and is what Joan refers to above as a claim to cover interest payments on the mortgage taken out to purchase his constituency home. £119k is an awful lot to be paying purely in interest costs over a 6 year period, I wonder what else is included in here
I’m not suggesting Ruddock & Doran are doing anything wrong, however the situation where public money is used to reimburse MP’s the interest costs of mortgages they have taken out to buy second homes is despicable. This allows MPs to build up equity in property free of any costs to themselves and subsequently pocket the profits when said homes are sold. Surely anyone with an ounce of decency or any principles would recognise that any value realised on the holding of second homes paid for by the taxpayer should be returned to the taxpayer?
Also note the attempt by Joan to close down debate on the topic by introducing talk of legal action