Respect For the Unemployed & Benefit Claimants House of # Scroungers: 340 # MPs get their # EnergyBills paid on # EXPENSES to heat # SecondHomes #BenefitClaimants , # disabled & the # unemployed - # demonised as scroungers - benefit sanction up-to 3 years, forced to work on #workfare - unable to eat or heat, no benefits relying on # foodbanks . Meanwhile the breath taking hypocrisy of MPs claiming £200,000 in a year for their energy bills is today laid bare in a shocking Sunday Mirror investigation. Top of the heap is a millionaire from the Conservatives who claimed a staggering £5,822 in just 12 months – more than four times the average household energy bill – to power and heat his £1million constituency home in a sprawling 31-acre estate. Nadhim Zahawi for Stratford-on-Avon and his wife run a riding school and he is a director of a number of firms. He also owns a £5million detached home in London. The MP even boasts on his website of his “achievements” on the Energy Bill Committee at improving “# EnergyEfficiency measures to homes and businesses”. But what he was most efficient at this year was making sure he claimed £4,557 for electricity and £1,265 for heating oil in the year to March. Then there is Government minister Alan Duncan. Last week he said he accepted that people “do not like paying high bills”, but he was against Labour’s energy price freeze. His energy bills are no longer a worry for Mr Duncan, International Development Minister and MP for Rutland and Melton. He claimed £2,750 for electricity bills and £1,250 for heating oil at his second constituency home. Dave Prentis, whose UNISON union represents 1.3million hard-up public service workers, told us: “It’s disgraceful that well-paid MPs should make these claims as thousands of families are struggling to pay to turn the oven on to cook dinner. “These are the same hypocritical MPs who have failed to get a grip on soaring fuel and energy costs, rising food bills and pay freezes. “But in the end it’s a moral decision down to them and their consciences.” #Cancer sufferer Gail Lunde, 52, received a grant from Macmillan Cancer Support earlier this year because she could not to afford to heat her north London home. She said last night: “MPs charging us to heat their homes is morally wrong. It’s absolute hypocrisy and I can’t believe they’ve got the nerve.” Clare Welton, of Fuel Poverty Action , said: “When the Government’s only response to millions of people not being able to afford their fuel bills is to tell us to change supplier or wear a jumper, it is outrageous to see MPs claiming hefty amounts of taxpayer money to pay for their own bills. “It is little wonder that many MPs have done nothing to tackle fuel poverty in this country when they are immune from the price hikes by the profit-hungry Big Six energy companies. “Thousands of people will die this winter in cold homes but we know the MPs will be keeping nice and warm in their first and second homes.” #Universities minister David Willetts reportedly worth £1.9million, claimed £2,596 for his West London house which is worth £1.3million. His constituency home in Hampshire is worth £300,000. In 2009 it emerged Mr Willetts billed the taxpayer £115 plus VAT for workmen to replace 25 light bulbs at the London property. Culture Secretary Maria Miller, who has previously been investigated over expenses, claimed £2,011 on electricity bills in the 12- month period on a £970,000 constituency home in Basingstoke, which she rents. Last year the office of John Lyon, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, launched an inquiry after a complaint that Mrs Miller had claimed more than £90,000 in second home allowances towards the cost of a house where her parents lived. The minister defended her expenses saying “everything’s in order”. Conservative Elizabeth Truss, who is the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Education and # Childcare, claimed £2,579 in gas and electricity bills in a year. Mrs Truss was elected MP for South West Norfolk after working in the energy and telecommunicati ons industry for 10 years. Andrew Robathan who was Minister of State for Armed Forces until last month, claimed £4,586.80 for the 12 months to March. Mr Robathan owns a mortgage-free £1.5million house in London which he bought for £700,000 in 2004 and a mortgage-free farm in Leicestershire which he bought for £1million in 2001. Old # Etonian Hugo Swire, minister of state for the Foreign Office, claimed a total of £3,198 on gas and oil in 12 months on his second home. Writing in his local paper, the Tory MP for East Devon said: “The reason we are not introducing a price freeze is it simply won’t work. If we want the lights to stay on, consumers and taxpayers are, by some means or other, going to have to pay for it.” Conservative MP Tim Yeo who has temporarily stepped aside as chairman of the Commons Energy and Climate Change Committee, claimed £979.68 on gas and electricity on his London flat. Last year he said an extra £3 a week on fuel bills was a “reasonable price” to pay for green and nuclear power. Mr Yeo is being investigated over claims he used his role as chairman of the influential committee to help a private company influence Parliament. He strongly rejects the allegations. The MP for South Suffolk has supplemented his Commons salary with £200,000 from highly paid private sector jobs, including energy firms. Dame Margaret Beckett, who has been Labour MP for Derby South since 1983, claimed £3,960 on gas and electricity on her constituency home. Mrs Beckett said there was “ill health in her family” for the period covering the expenses claim which meant being in the house longer and having the heating higher. Sir Edward Leigh a Tory MP since 1983, claimed £3,337 for gas and electricity for his designated second home. Labour leader Ed Miliband claimed £403 on utility bills while Lib Dem leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg put in expenses for £254. David Cameron and Chancellor George Osborne do not claim on bills on their Downing Street residences. The maximum an MP can claim for their second home allowance in a year is £20,100 and this figure includes claims for gas and electricity bills. Costs also include rent, hotel stays, council tax, service charges, phone and internet. #BurnAusterity # Nov5th # MillionMaskMarc h # OpVendetta # BlockWestminste rBridge # ExpectUs - Click on the link to see whats planned locally to you >> t.co/ kRtXIsmTYi AND in London at # parliament https://t.co/61p2Jk1tcs Just now Like · Comment · Share · Edit privacy · Edit ·
Posted on: Sun, 03 Nov 2013 18:28:51 +0000
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