MPs whinge about their £15 dinners

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  • Judge MentalJudge Mental Posts: 18,593
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    Josquius wrote: »
    £15 is fairly reasonable considering this is Westminister where they're working. You'd be hard pressed to spend less than £10 there.

    Speaking about MPs being paid too much and all that - lol no.
    Cut MPs pay and all you're doing is ensuring only the rich become MPs.

    You still haven't explained why you think we should pay for their food. I am a public servant. If i work through lunch I have to take a sandwich. If I work in the evening I stop and buy something. Please explain why they are a special case.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 3,290
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    Fine for the private sector but this is taxpayers money.

    Why try and create a divide between the private and pubic sector
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 3,290
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    twogunthom wrote: »
    Do you get 65-85k for part time work, and does you sustenance come from the tax payer. People working for big profit making companies should stop comparing their expenses with that of a millionaire like IDS claiming for breakfast and cocktails'. These people are forcing austerity on the tax payer while they grab fistfuls of cash.

    'Breakfast and cocktails' - so let me get this straight, your judging a whole section of society by the actions of one man. Nice work. Part-time work is very ill informed, emotive if you are trying to get a point across, but ill informed all the same. 'These people' - very divisive and emotive langauge.


    Why should we stop comparing, there was a massive outcry when the media were demonising the public sector. Surely it's better to judge the private sector and public sector by the same rules. Or are you for a divisive outlook on this?
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 3,290
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    You still haven't explained why you think we should pay for their food. I am a public servant. If i work through lunch I have to take a sandwich. If I work in the evening I stop and buy something. Please explain why they are a special case.

    If you work away from home, say if you are sent on a course, or you are asked to work at a different office are your hotel costs (including meals) covered by tax payers money? The comparrison you are making above it totally incorrect, the story relates to non-london MP's claim for meals in WestMinster.
  • JosquiusJosquius Posts: 1,514
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    You still haven't explained why you think we should pay for their food. I am a public servant. If i work through lunch I have to take a sandwich. If I work in the evening I stop and buy something. Please explain why they are a special case.

    They're not a special case.
    Some organisations have that perk, some don't.
    My old job used to give me an allowance for food if I had to be away from the office on work business.

    I have no opinion on whether we 'should' be paying for MPs food. That it is part of their perks to the tune of £15 however is hardly something worth getting worked up about one way or the other. There are much bigger issues in the country.
  • MidnightFalconMidnightFalcon Posts: 15,016
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    If I'm send away on a course or aked to work away from my usual office my company does pay for my breakfast, lunch and dinner. Are you sure you company doesn't do this?

    I'm sure they do, What they don't do is provide on-site restaurants and boozers along with free money to spend in them (not to mention all the other freebies).

    If they did I certainly wouldn't be moaning about it.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 3,290
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    I'm sure they do, What they don't do is provide on-site restaurants and boozers along with free money to spend in them (not to mention all the other freebies).

    If they did I certainly wouldn't be moaning about it.

    Would the hotel you'd be put in not cover all the above points? Bar, restaurant, allowance?
  • exlordlucanexlordlucan Posts: 35,375
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    If you work away from home, say if you are sent on a course, or you are asked to work at a different office are your hotel costs (including meals) covered by tax payers money? The comparrison you are making above it totally incorrect, the story relates to non-london MP's claim for meals in WestMinster.

    Like when becoming an MP they didn't know that the job involved working at the houses of parliament and so working away from home?

    They'll be asking for tax payer funded second homes in London next.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 3,290
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    Like when becoming an MP they didn't know that the job involved working at the houses of parliament and so working away from home?

    They'll be asking for tax payer funded second homes in London next.

    Like when getting a job people didn't know they'd be trained. Should they have to fund this too?
  • MidnightFalconMidnightFalcon Posts: 15,016
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    Would the hotel you'd be put in not cover all the above points? Bar, restaurant, allowance?

    Not comparable. The hypothetical hotel isn't built into my office.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 3,290
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    Not comparable. The hypothetical hotel isn't built into my office.

    And Westminster is built into every MP's constituency isn't it
  • blueisthecolourblueisthecolour Posts: 20,125
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    Imagine being an MP.

    You've enter politics either through years of party work or through success in other areas (usually business). You work to get yourself selected as a candidate against fierce competition, fight an election which is basically a 2 month interview amongst 50,000 people, and then become one of the 650 people that are chosen to decide on how a nation of 60,000,000 people are governed. In your chose career field you are basically the top 0.01%.

    Now you get into parliament and find that you are working long hours under intense national scrutiny. Everything you say, inside and outside of work is taken down by journalist and analyzed. The choices you make in your personal life and how you interact with your family are broadcasted to everyone and debated in national media. You are forced to live and work in two completely different locations from day to day and receive nothing but grief when you try to get reimbursed for your extra expenditure.

    For all this you are treated worse than the general manager of your local supermarket. You receive less pay, no bonuses, few perks, no overtime and are now arguing about getting meals paid when you do work late. Not only that but you have to justify on a daily basis why you should be getting paid more than the minimum wage.

    It honestly amazes me that anyone still wants to be an MP. In fact I wonder if this is way they're so bad - you would imagine that there would be a host of national figures and businessmen that would be perfect for government. But who is going to leave positions of respect and 6 figure salaries to be treated like scum 7 days a week.
  • Judge MentalJudge Mental Posts: 18,593
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    Why try and create a divide between the private and pubic sector

    Personally I think the same rules should apply to all staff in either sector but I do think there is , at least in principle, a difference between what profit making organisations do with their money and what public services do. In the first case the accountability is to the shareholder, in the second to the tax payer - so there is a distinct difference in that sense.
  • CBFreakCBFreak Posts: 28,602
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    £15 could pay for a weeks shop at a pinch including cat food for me.
  • Judge MentalJudge Mental Posts: 18,593
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    If you work away from home, say if you are sent on a course, or you are asked to work at a different office are your hotel costs (including meals) covered by tax payers money? The comparrison you are making above it totally incorrect, the story relates to non-london MP's claim for meals in WestMinster.

    If I have to stay in a hotel I pay for my own meals. The hotel cost is met by my employer as I don't have the choice of sleeping at home.
  • thomas painthomas pain Posts: 2,318
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    CBFreak wrote: »
    £15 could pay for a weeks shop at a pinch including cat food for me.

    do you only buy beans and bread ?
  • Judge MentalJudge Mental Posts: 18,593
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    Would the hotel you'd be put in not cover all the above points? Bar, restaurant, allowance?

    These days most public sector staff only stay in hotels if they absolutely have no alternative - and then they tend to be very basic budget hotels or conference centres. Sometimes a buffet lunch will be provided - but where it isn't I would expect people to pay for their own food - they'd have to if they were in the office or at home after all.
  • Judge MentalJudge Mental Posts: 18,593
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    Imagine being an MP.

    You've enter politics either through years of party work or through success in other areas (usually business). You work to get yourself selected as a candidate against fierce competition, fight an election which is basically a 2 month interview amongst 50,000 people, and then become one of the 650 people that are chosen to decide on how a nation of 60,000,000 people are governed. In your chose career field you are basically the top 0.01%.

    Now you get into parliament and find that you are working long hours under intense national scrutiny. Everything you say, inside and outside of work is taken down by journalist and analyzed. The choices you make in your personal life and how you interact with your family are broadcasted to everyone and debated in national media. You are forced to live and work in two completely different locations from day to day and receive nothing but grief when you try to get reimbursed for your extra expenditure.

    For all this you are treated worse than the general manager of your local supermarket. You receive less pay, no bonuses, few perks, no overtime and are now arguing about getting meals paid when you do work late. Not only that but you have to justify on a daily basis why you should be getting paid more than the minimum wage.

    It honestly amazes me that anyone still wants to be an MP. In fact I wonder if this is way they're so bad - you would imagine that there would be a host of national figures and businessmen that would be perfect for government. But who is going to leave positions of respect and 6 figure salaries to be treated like scum 7 days a week.

    They are public servants and everything you've said applies to thousands if not millions of public sector staff who have had their terms and conditions slashed. Why should they be any different? Free meals and booze weren't an issue when the economy was ok - now it's not.

    I thought we were all in it together?
  • Judge MentalJudge Mental Posts: 18,593
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    tim59 wrote: »

    Quite - not that we ever had such a thing. We did used to get a sandwich if we had to work through lunchtime - but that's gone and we have to take our own food and drink if we need it. It's rare to get a cup of tea these days - and they are removing all the water coolers.
  • bobcarbobcar Posts: 19,424
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    If I have to stay in a hotel I pay for my own meals. The hotel cost is met by my employer as I don't have the choice of sleeping at home.

    That's unusual, I've never worked for a company that wouldn't pay for meals if I had to stay away overnight. As they should, the only reason for being away is for work and I'd rather be at home.
  • clinchclinch Posts: 11,574
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    If you work away from home, say if you are sent on a course, or you are asked to work at a different office are your hotel costs (including meals) covered by tax payers money? The comparrison you are making above it totally incorrect, the story relates to non-london MP's claim for meals in WestMinster.

    Westminster is their normal place of work. If I lived in Leeds and had a job at an office in Manchester I would not expect my meals to be paid by my employer because I was working away from home.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 3,290
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    If I have to stay in a hotel I pay for my own meals. The hotel cost is met by my employer as I don't have the choice of sleeping at home.

    I've never worked for a company or heard of a company, public or private sector that when they expect their employees to work away they don't give them an allowance for food. Fortunately your situation is in minority. If you can't sleep at home, then surely you can't eat at home, by that token they should cover both!
  • Judge MentalJudge Mental Posts: 18,593
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    bobcar wrote: »
    That's unusual, I've never worked for a company that wouldn't pay for meals if I had to stay away overnight. As they should, the only reason for being away is for work and I'd rather be at home.

    Welcome to the public sector 2013.
  • Judge MentalJudge Mental Posts: 18,593
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    I've never worked for a company or heard of a company, public or private sector that when they expect their employees to work away they don't give them an allowance for food. Fortunately your situation is in minority. If you can't sleep at home, then surely you can't eat at home, by that token they should cover both!

    In theory you could claim a food allowance - but it is being strongly discouraged as it adds to the cost of attending training and other events. So we rarely claim - and most people just buy their own.

    And if you go to a full day event there is rarely any food provided so it's take your own or starve!
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