Thursday 29 October 2009

Spousal (expense) abuse

Just a thought.

Remember when the expenses scandal broke? How the Scottish Parliament made itself look morally superior to its Westminster counterpart, emphasising how the expenses system at Holyrood is transparent, open and accountable?

BBC News last night featured interviews with a couple of MP's wives last night - who work for their husband in the Palace of Westminster. According to reports, the Kelly inquiry is to recommend that MPs should not be allowed to employ any relatives to work for them - kinda looks bad when you are paying your son even though they aren't really doing any work for you.

So, what say the Scottish Parliament on this issue? I know of a number of MSPs employ family members - and MSPs who employ family members of other MSPs. Are the rules likely to change for Holyrood too?

Like I say, just a thought...

4 comments:

Anonymous,  29 October 2009 at 14:26  

Don't see why it should change - there's been no comparable scandal on Holyrood, and more to the point it's a silly thing to introduce, or I think so anyway But logic may not be the driving force here.

Stuart Winton 29 October 2009 at 20:49  

Perhaps no overt scandal or corruption, Mr Bucket (or should that be Mr Tongue?!?), but the whole thing just looks too cosy and symptomatic of cronyism/nepotism.

As someone said on telly recently, many private businesses won't let line managers employ family members in their chain of command, and the reasoning for this should be pretty obvious.

And it's not as if it's a private business or individual spending their money as they think fit, it's taxpayers' money at issue.

Indy 30 October 2009 at 12:39  

The Scottish Parly probably will fall into line, which will create a bit of a problem in my view as a lot of the most reliable members of staff are spouses/family members who have been there since 99.

I would think of Isabella Neil for example who we all know as a fount of all wisdom. She'd have to get the sack. It would be constituents who would lose out on that deal but there you go - the press want their pound of flesh and I suspect they will get it.

beetroot 3 July 2010 at 13:41  

Politicans should be beyond reproach. Further to this they should be seen to be beyond reproach.

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