AM's Expenses: Take a pew
Eight AMs claimed the maximum possible amount of £12,500 for second home expenses in the last financial year.
The detailed expenses breakdown were released to BBC Wales in response to a Freedom of Information request. Atleast one AM will be able to 'take a seat' while she curses the day such requests have to be answered.
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13 comments:
£2,000 for a sofa!!!!
She must have prodigious arse to justify such an Industrial Quality sofa as that.
Ms. Griffiths should be proud that she will forever exemplify all that is wrong with Politics
Hey that's not a sofa it's a throne! Leighton Andrews' throne.
Forget about the sofa. What about the mattress protector claimed by the Lewis family firm. Talk about talking the piss out of the voters.What sort of people on a combined salary of over £100k believe it is right to claim for a £2 pyrex bowl. S.O.Davies must be spining in his grave.
It is us that needs the mattress protector not them. The Welsh people are being used as a mattress for these people to copulate upon.
Huw Lewis and Lynne Neagle get alot of flack, some of which they deserve, alot of which they don't. Taking Huw at face value from today's Western Mail, they didn't claim a penny until their first kid was born, as they didn't need to use the allowance available to them.
Huw clearly has ambitions, which means that the opposition (inside Labour as well as outside!) are always here on the blogs sticking the boot in. In this instance, I think its unfair.
i don't mind the claims, its the facts that ams so close to cardiff can actually get a second home- cairns, neagle,german etc lewis all 45 mins away and its ok for a second home. if you live below the heads of the vallyes, a465? then you live at home as far as i'm concerned
unbelievable.
I could never afford to spend £2000 on a sofa being a low paid agency worker, yet our politicians are claiming this money as an allowance.
Huw Lewis has posted about this on his blog. He's allowed comments praising him, but hasn't posted my comments asking him about how he and his wife have managed to spend £800 of taxpayers money on curtains.
I can understand Huw Lewis and Lyn Neagle needing a home closer to their work especially with two young children, and why shouldn't they when they are within their rights to do so and are not doing anthing wrong! But i agree perhaps a trip to ikea would have been a bit more practical. But then i must ask myself how can Les Griffiths spend over 2,000 on a sofa? Boundaries should be put in place.
I completely agree, please do not understand my previous comment. I am happy for AMs to have accomodation provided for them. But it is not up to the tax payer to furnish that to a higher standard than I could ever afford. What has annoyed me is that Huw Lewis has posted an article saying how important these allowances are, and when I try and post questioning his use of them, the comments seem to never make it the the blog. I would do the same to Nick Ramsey or Lesley Griffiths if they had blogs!
I am a bit angry that ams are claiming for all sorts of household items for a second home – I understand a need for ams representing north wales to have a second home in cardiff because I would not expect them to travel from north wales to cardiff everyday – then again why not get the assembly to buy several of the ever growing flats here in the bay and allow members to stay when needed – at least that way no profits will be made to individual ams
Leighton 'lives' in Rhondda , but does that mean that if you already live in Cardiff and get a seat in another constituency, even one that's 30 minutes away, you can then turn your nice Lisvane pad into a 'second' home for work and get it paid for and then call your Rhondda/Merthyr dummy home your 'first home'?
I think that it is discraceful that Leighton Andrews, Huw Lewis, Lynne Neagle, Nick Ramsay, Mike German and Jocelyn Davies all claimed this allowance:- any AM who lives within an hour's commute should hold thier head in shame.
I'm expected to commute 35 Miles everyday to work in Cardiff and my company doesn't pay my mileage nor does it buy me a second home! Any Newport, Cardiff, Bridgend or Valley's AM should not be claiming this. The arguement that Huw Lewis and Lynne Neagle need a house near work becuase they have a family is rubbish:- i have a family have they not heared of day care, grandparents or a nanny which im sure they could afford or maybe just maybe one could give up work to look after the kids!!
I will however say credit where credit is due and hats off to the Gwent AM's Mohammand Ashgar, Rosemary Butler and Irene James who claimed nil.
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