Friday, October 19, 2012

56 SUBSÍDIO DE HABITAÇÃO PARA DEPUTADOS BRITÂNICOS





Folhinha 56

19 October 2012 Last updated at 11:23    BBC NEWS SITE
MPs expenses: Up to 27 MPs get 'dual income' from London homes

Este artigo da Folhinha destina-se sobretudo à comunidade Portuguesa e Lusófona a residir em Inglaterra.

A Folhinha converte para Português o seguinte, para aqueles que ainda não se deram ao trabalho de aprender Inglês, para tb estarem minimamente informados, sobre assuntos que lhes dizem respeito:

O Daily  Telegraph reporta que alguns Deputados Britânicos arrendam casas deles em Londres a colegas, os quais serão depois reembolsados das rendas, enquanto os Deputados senhorios arrendam para eles quartos nos hotéis para tb também serem reembolsados das despesas de alojamento. 

A astúcia reside no seguinte: a Lei sobre o Subsídio de Habitação reza que para ter direito a este subsídio, o requerente não pode ser dono de casa. Mas se eles alugarem as casas que possuem em Londres, e forem para o hotel, então assim têm direito a que lhes reembolsem as despesas de  alojamento porque você não paga renda num hotel, paga despesas de alojamento, são despesas reembolsáveis. Esta saga de esquemas parece não ter fim nos meios políticos Britânicos. 

Disto nada se sabia antes, porque a imprensa Britânica tem sido altamente reaça, contra o povo Britânico, dando-lhe só lixo a ler, e não informava sobre assuntos da classe privilegiada e poderosa. Esta imprensa parece estar a mudar desde que o novo Citizen Kane (Murdoch) foi mais ou menos abandonado pelos Tories, quando o tristemente caso célebre das escutas telefónica  começou a cheirar mal e tudo se pirou dali pra fora!

Para melhor clareza, os Deputados  têm a residência principal nas regiões que representam, fora de Londres. Mas deslocam-se frequentemente a Londres -- ou estão lá sempre, quem sabe por onde eles andam! --, para assistirem às sessões parlamentares. Encontraram hoje o próprio Ministro da Finanças a viajar numa carruagem de Primeira com bilhete de Segunda. Multa de 100 e tal quid! O que andava este tipo a fazer no comboio! 

Outro, o chefe de bancada do   Partido Tory demitiu-se hoje por ser apanhado a sair do Parlamento, de bicicleta, por um portão errado. Onde é que ele ia por ali? Chamou plebeu ao polícia que  o impediu de sair, o qual não gostou e talvez se tivesse calado se lhe tivesse chamado aristocrata, autocrata, plutocrata, ou oligarca. O plebeu plebs virou azedo na Associação da Polícia e na imprensa, e a cabeça do Tory  já só presa só por tendão, acabou por cair nas mãos do  D. Cameron. 

O governo Tory tem andado a diabolizar as classes mais vulneráveis, ameaçando-as de lhes baixar e até cortar os subsídios de subsistência.  Parece estarem a culpar  quem ganha pouco ou nada de terem desencadeado a crise económica.  Ora, é mais que sabido que quem deitou a Banca abaixo e provocou a crise da Banca  foi  a própria Banca e as classes donas da Banca.

O Governo Britânico lançou-se numa guerra contra o povo, já parece a Margareth Thatcher, a qual foi depois afastada do governo pelo próprio partido conservador de privilégios dos ricos, porque estava a dar mau nome ao partido. My dear Davide, is’s very easy to attack who’s weaker than you, Da ya know what I…?

Lembramos que a crise começou lá prás Américas,  quando a Banca Americana e outras  davam crédito a todo o miserável para comprarem casa, e depois não puderam pagar. Claro que não! Então a Banca não sabia quanto  essas pessoas ganhavam e não sabiam que os ordenados não chegavam para pagar a hipoteca? 

Até as próprias agências  de rating davam o máximo de rating aos bancos que andavam envolvidos nisto! E tb não viam os esquemas pirâmide que proliferavam na Wall Street! Talvez essas agências andassem já obcecadas  em destabilizar a Europa. Fora daqui com esses marretas! 

Só têm provocado  especulação, criaram um eldorado para os investidores do tipo tubarão, e têm deitado abaixo  os países mais vulneráveis! Segue-se o artigo em Inglês para  aficionados.


MPs expenses: Up to 27 MPs get 'dual income' from London homes

Palace of Westminster

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As many as 27 MPs are claiming rent on taxpayer-funded second homes in London while also letting out other properties in the capital at the same time, the Daily Telegraph has claimed.
The practice is not against the rules but raises further questions about loopholes in the expenses system.

One MP said he had "no choice" but to rent out a property he owned and live elsewhere due to a change in the rules. 

This follows reports of MPs renting their subsidised home to colleagues. 

The Daily Telegraph said a number of MPs, including senior figures from all parties, have been claiming the cost of rent on subsidised second homes while also receiving rental income from other properties in London.

It said it had established 27 MPs were doing this, by cross-checking their expenses claims and entries in Parliament's register of member's interests - although the figure has not been independently verified.

Although this does not break any rules, it raises questions about the use of public money and whether MPs are finding new ways to maximise their income after a tightening of the rules on second homes following the 2009 expenses scandal. 

'No choice' The amount of rent that MPs can claim was capped as part of a far-reaching overhaul of the system in 2010, which also banned MPs from clawing back mortgage interest payments on properties they owned.

“Start Quote

Unfortunately the new system of MPs expenses means that I cannot live in my own house and I'm driven to renting a flat nearby”
Nick Harvey Lib Dem MP
 
One of the MPs named by the Telegraph, former defence minister Peter Luff, said he had bought a property in good faith under the old system but could no longer afford to meet the mortgage interest payments after the change in the rules. 

Writing on his website, Mr Luff, a Conservative MP, said he had "no choice" but to either sell it or vacate the property and rent it out.

"Having only recently purchased it, I chose to rent it out and this information has been in the public domain for two years, it having been properly declared in the Register of Members' Interests," he said.

Mr Luff said he was now living in a rented flat in preference to staying in a hotel, the other option allowed under the new rules. While IPSA's rules were "well-meaning" he said they had resulted in increased costs to the taxpayer.

Another MP named by The Telegraph, Lib Dem former defence minister Nick Harvey, told BBC News: "Unfortunately the new system of MPs expenses means that I cannot live in my own house and I'm driven to renting a flat nearby." 

The row comes a day after The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPCC), the external body in charge of expenses since 2010, decided to delay publication of information about MPs landlords. 

It had come under pressure from Commons Speaker John Bercow, who argued that MPs addresses are kept confidential by law and releasing related information under Freedom of Information laws could lead to their disclosure and jeopardise the security of MPs.
Disclosure row
 
Sir Ian Kennedy, the chair of IPSA, said it had written to all MPs claiming rent on properties in London to canvas their views about releasing the information and only a third had so far replied. 

"We are therefore delaying our response to the FOI request and will be writing to those MPs concerned to give them a further two weeks to respond," he said.

The decision to delay publication has been criticised by former Labour home secretary Jacqui Smith, one of the most high-profile casualties of the expenses scandal.

She told the Telegraph that Mr Bercow had got it "wrong" and would have to change course. 

"Any attempt to prevent this information getting into the public domain is pretty much doomed to failure. You are not going to keep these things under wraps."

“Start Quote

The prime minister is committed to transparency”
Downing Street
 
It has been reported that a handful of MPs are currently sub-letting their subsidised properties to colleagues, who are then claiming back the cost of rent on expenses. 

Such an arrangement is allowed under the system but critics say it should be disclosed in the public interest.

IPSA said there were four such cases and the information was released following an FOI request in January.

Labour MP Iain McKenzie, who rents a flat from colleague Linda Riordan, told the Daily Mail: "If I had known beforehand that the flat was owned by an MP then I probably wouldn't have taken it.

"You've got to apply the test of how it looks to the man in the street, regardless of whether it's above board or not."

Asked whether David Cameron was concerned about MPs renting out their flats, a Downing Street spokeswoman said: "Clearly the prime minister is committed to transparency, and this government has done more than any other in terms of ensuring transparency, but in this particular instance it is a matter for Ipsa.

"Ipsa has been established to deal with these sorts of issues, so it is a matter for them."

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    A PROCISSÃO AINDA SÓ VAI NO ADRO.

ESTE ASSUNTO ESTÁ A AQUECER E VAMOS VER SE ALGUMAS CABEÇAS NÃO VÃO ROLAR. O QUE É ISTO SENÃO FRAUDE, EMBORA COBERTA PELA LEI.

Peter Facey, Unlock Democracy peter@unlockdemocracy.org.uk via bounce.bluestatedigital.com 
16:13 (24 minutes ago)
to me

Unlock Democracy
Dear folhinha stockwell

Click here to sign our letterThe Speaker of the House of Commons is attempting to block moves to publish the names of MPs’ landlords under a freedom of information request. He is arguing that this is on security grounds, although it would be perfectly possible to publish the names without having to publish addresses.

It seems as if we’ve been here before, with the expenses scandal in 2009. We want to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past; will you sign our letter to John Bercow demanding he agrees to publish the list?

http://action.unlockdemocracy.org.uk/bercow
The scandal in 2009 was as much about the attempted cover up as it was about the expenses abuses themselves. Far from the gaze of public scrutiny, the system had been left to fester.

There are serious questions being asked about whether MPs are continuing to milk the system by renting out one property they own (often initially purchased under the old expenses system) while getting the taxpayer to pay for rented 
accommodation elsewhere. 

It has even been alleged that it is possible for MPs to rent out properties to each other, and use the new system to make a profit. We can’t make an informed judgement on this, and how the system could be improved, unless the identities of landlords are published.

If there are any major abuses going, it would be far better for parliament to come clean about them now, rather than for them to emerge years later with the parliamentary authorities fighting publication of the list every step of the way. If we have learned nothing else from 2009’s expenses scandal, it is this.

We want to get as many people to sign our letter to John Bercow as possible by next Tuesday. We will be presenting it to him on Wednesday, so we need you to add your name now:

http://action.unlockdemocracy.org.uk/bercow
With public trust in the political system at such a low, we can’t afford parliament and Speaker Bercow open up yet another self-inflicted wound. Let’s nip it in the bud right away.
All the best,

Peter Facey

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