The following is from press release on my expenses ad allowances budget.
Trust Party candidate for Perth and North Perthshire Douglas Taylor has set out his budget for expenses and allowances if elected to Parliament.
Mr Taylor said “At the start of the campaign I said that candidates and MPs should be held to account by the voters. The problem with an establishment solution to the MPs expences scandal is that there remains the possibility of an establishment stich-up. Many MPs are hoping for a large salary increase when the fuss over MPs expenses has died down.” “For this reason I have challenged my fellow candidates to set out in advance of the election how much of taxpayers money they budget to claim. I have also challenged them to commit to not taking a salary increase while pay freezes or cuts are being imposed on public sector workers. The deficit is the responsibility and fault of MPs after all.” “I am not aware of specific commitments on these particular points made by my fellow candidates. I would urge voters to look into this as the costs of politics and politicians is rising steeply in this country.” Mr Taylor continued “I have examined the expenses and allowances of Scottish and other MPs and I see that they have grown rapidly over the last few years. Most seem to be in the upper region of the range from £130,000 to £188,000 per year.” “I think that it is reasonable for an MP to have allowances to cover the costs of a secretary and a junior researcher. This was a role often carried out by people who had just left university. In addition modest costs for travel and staying in London seem reasonable to me.” “Looking at the costs of MPs I decided to make a budget for myself which would place me among the fifty most inexpensive MPs. Put another way I would aim to be less expensive than the top 600 most expensive MPs. It seems reasonable to me that I should have a target expendidture of £90,000 per year. I have come to this conclusion after looking at what others have claimed for staff and other costs and I know something of the cost of travel to London. These costs are less than almost any Scottish MP in the last parliament.” “I will also commit to not taking any salary increase during the course of the parliament. Inflation is the ultimate responsibility of our political leaders. The minds of the MPs would be concentrated on inflation if they restrained themselves from any salary increase over the course of a parliament.” “People should not be attracted into politics by money nor should they be prevented from entering parliament for that reason. Salaries and expenses should reflect the vocational appeal that there should be for the privilege of being in parliament.”
