Comments on: How many MPs actually live in their constituency?

By: Manic

Manic — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 09:48:23 +0000

Nice angle, goatchurch:o)underblog: A pardon does not equal a free pass to continue to take the piss. I like the idea of an extra data-set for holiday homes, though.

By: underblog

underblog — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 21:47:45 +0000

Come now Tim, I thought you'd given Anne Milton a pass?Another complication: Are their house in the constituency and their London pad their only homes, or do they have a holiday home in Cornwall/France/Portugal/Jamaica that they bugger off to for most of recess.

By: goatchurch

goatchurch — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 21:42:51 +0000

We can reduce it to a simple sound-bite: "How many candidates are eligible to vote for themselves?"Ask the person on the campaign trail who they are going to vote for. If they're not local they can't say: "I'm going to vote for myself."Why should I vote for you if you don't even vote for yourself?

By: Scott

Scott — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 12:28:16 +0000

YOu might be interested in one of the issues that has arisen in the Scottish Parliament which relates to constituency homes and expenses. One SNP MSP and government minister – Stewart Stevenson – is from Linlithgow near Edinburgh. However, he is the MSP for Banff and Buchan, near Aberdeen (a 2 1/2 hour train trip away and then a 40 mile road trip). Stevenson sold his mortgage free house in Linlithgow to buy a constituency residence. This house is mortgage free. Stevenson then bought an Edinburgh (or near Edinburgh residence). This house is in Linlithgow, round the corner from his previous house – and purchased with a mortgage. The expense rules indicate that the Parliament can pay a proprotion of his mortgage. I have no idea how frequently he is in his constituency, but for a while I (a commuter to Edinburgh) encountered him on the train nearly daily. The full story is at http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=1206&id=8... and Stevenson has been embroiled in other trouble detailed at http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1504632007 in a story broken by the ridiculous politics blog. Stevenson was also a rare Scottish serving politician who blogged – but has stopped in the past few weeks.Scott