Opinion: sinister ministers

I am aware that the issue of politicians expenses is some of the most trod-upon ground in the media but given the brouhaha over John O’Donoghue in the South, I think it is worth reminding ourselves that graft is a cross-border institution. 
Over the past number of months we heard aware that ministerial expense claims have been excessive, to say the very least. Quel horreur! After all, this is was something that many people had long suspected. It was common knowledge that elected politicians made expense claims but we were under the impression that typical claims were for legitimate expenditure and so we accepted this as a necessary part of being represented.
How wrong we were. Alongside the claims made for office staff and equipment, travel and subsistence and other expenses, came revelations that frankly make my blood boil. Ministers have been using the expenses system as a kind of personal piggy bank – or perhaps bailout – supplementary to their salaries. Were it not for the fact that unpaid politicians would result in government being a hobby for the rich, it would be tempting to ask why they need to salary at all. Whether in Westminster or Stormont, it’s money that talks and no-one walks – at least not if they can slip into a state-owned limo.
So, we knew that our representatives claimed expenses, we even had a knowing giggle about it. We did not know, however, the full extent to which these elected representatives were prepared to throw their arms in. Sinn Fein, for example, have five MP’s who refuse to attend Westminster and still claimed £650,000 in ministerial expenses. (1) In Sinn Féin’s defence, the elected members donate much of their salaries to the party and live on the average industrial wage. Plus expenses, of course – just like the average industrial worker at, say, the Belfast motor parts plant Visteon. (2)

DUP MPs, meanwhile, claimed a staggering £1,337,159 between them. That’s a lot of cash for such ‘plain Ulsterfolk’.

The other parties payouts were necessarily smaller as a result of having fewer representatives. The Ulster Unionists sole Westminster MP Lady Sylvia Hermon claims £134,004 in expenses. Poor Sylvia – being a titled member of the gentry must not pay as well as we all assumed. The poor old SDLP accrued a mere £461,364 – perhaps they are socialists after all?
In a representative democracy politicians’ power stems from their claim to represent us. But how, exactly, are we represented by people who have absolutely no idea what it is like to actually earn a living? How many of us can claim mortgage payments or rent as an expense? How many can claim £400 a month for food? The list goes on. And on. It’s not as though our politicians don’t earn enough either – several are double-jobbing as both MPs and MLAs, thus getting two salaries and two sets of expenses. Add a council seat into the mix and there’s a third expense teat to milk. (4)

Of course, it is no longer news that the public is being robbed blind by its deputies. The real problem is one of hypocrisy: these same people are only too happy to preach to us about we need to tighten our belts in these times of recession. At the same time as enjoying lavish lifestyles courtesy of taxpayers, they squint toward the public sector and cut ‘non-essential’ jobs – you know, nurses, doctors, road workers… that sort of pointless frippery.
I’ll go right on ahead and state the obvious, shall I? The money picked from of our pockets could and should have been better spent. The public sector has taken a serious hammering because of lack of funds: roads are in a state of disrepair, hospitals are frankly in a state of crisis, public education is in a risible state and yet the state stumps-up seemingly endless wodges of money for our omniscient leaders while at the same time threatening the public with a renewed austerity drive.

(1) Dodds’ expenses bill NI’s highest, BBC News, April 1, 2009
(2) European workers rebel as G-20 looms, Jason Walsh, Christian Science Monitor (Boston), April 1, 2009
(3) Op cit. BBC News
(4) Wilson defends ‘triple jobbing’BBC News, June 23, 2009