Fool you once, shame on you. Fool you twice, shame on me- Weird old nursery rhyme
Expenses Scandal-Will it ever end?
What's £17 to you? Dinner for two? Cinema tickets? Everything as it turns out, if you live in the constituency of Rotheram, because your MP is claiming expenses on poppy wreaths... For Help for Heroes... Good appointment.


Don't get me wrong here, this is only £17, and won't exactly affect the taxpayer badly. But the morals and principles behind the scandal are beyond outrageous, and who's to blame? Well in 2009, it was the MP's. They were caught out clearly claiming expenses beyond reason, and created the legacy of duck houses to long remember. One incident since was in 2013, when a Conservative MP (whom I can't remember the name of) claimed expenses on party donations. However, I exclude her in this instance, because it was clearly accidental and immediately apologised to the Commons, her constituency and repayed the money claimed. This was more down to the clampdown of the expenses on MP's, creating a minefield of problems on claiming expenses, rightly or wrongly.


But this story does make me sick. Not with Labour (not this time), but my faith in British politics. The MP in question is Sarah Champion, who claimed the £17 poppy wreath as "office costs", and that the Independent Parliament Standards Agency (IPSA) had actually accepted it. I don't know what I find more disgusting. The fact that Champion made the claim intentionally, or that IPSA actually accepted the claim. If Parliament is to regain any of its broken reputation, then Champion will bite the bullet in May and lose out on her safe seat.
Another day, another rant at British politics for most. Where's the morality, they ask. Where's the humanity, they ask. But more importantly, where is common sense? Constituents have the right to hold their MP to account, then why not allow them to regularly check their expenses? IPSA release all claimed expenses, but incidents like these are still common place in British politics. It's time for politics to grow up. Stop being little children over your pocket money, and actually use your money for the better of your constituency.
Jordan Ifield (and it's a Labour MP, just had to put that out there)