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January 3rd, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda - Claims for upper-class flights and rail journeys to top £1million a year
- Comes despite pledge to ban the practice after expenses scandal
By
Jason Groves
Last updated at 12:10 AM on 3rd January 2012
MPs are on course to claim more than £1million a year for first-class travel – despite a promised ban on the practice in the wake of the expenses scandal.
The claims have more than doubled in a year as they exploit a loophole in the latest ‘tough’ expenses regime, figures show.
They highlight the extent to which the system cossets MPs from the crippling rises in the cost of living that are squeezing the incomes of ordinary families.
Cosseted: Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, pictured with Labour leader Ed Miliband (left) on a train to Newcastle, claimed six first-class fares of up to £116 each between London and Wakefield in the months of June and July last year
Beggars belief: Energy Secretary Chris Huhne (left) claimed three
first-class fares costing up to £63.60 each, while Labour MP Chris
Wilson (right) was reimbursed £382.50p for a first-class ticket from
Darlington to London which would have only cost £106.20 as a walk-on
fare
While commuters are facing a rise in ticket prices of up to 11 per cent, MPs can simply bill the taxpayer and continue to travel first class.
Figures released by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, covering the months of June and July last year, show that MPs claimed for 1,334 first-class rail journeys at a total cost of £136,800 – a 155 per cent increase on the same period the previous year.
During the same two months, they also took 115 business class flights, claiming £35,722 from the taxpayer.
The combined claims for upper class rail and air fares are now on course to top £1million a year.
Revealed: Some of the claims made by MPs for first-class travel
Emma Boon, campaign director of the Taxpayers’ Alliance, called for a clampdown on the practice.
‘It beggars belief that some politicians think they can live the high life at taxpayers’ expense,’ she said. ‘If they want to sit in first class, they can pay the extra themselves.’
MPs’ claims for taxis have also doubled in the past year, despite a supposed ban in all but exceptional circumstances.
In June and July, they claimed £13,681 in taxi fares – up from £6,384 in the same period the previous year.
MPs reacted with fury to proposals for a ban on first-class travel in the wake of the expenses scandal.
The backlash resulted in watered-down
proposals that allowed MPs to travel first class if they could find a
more expensive standard class ticket.
Accelerating costs: MPs claimed for 1,334 first-class rail journeys in June and July, costing a total of £136,800 – a 155 per cent increase on the same period last year
Because of the expensive prices charged for flexible ‘Anytime’ tickets, this means MPs are often able to travel first class.
MPs exploiting the loophole include Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls, Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, and Energy Secretary Chris Huhne.
Tory ministers appear to have made an unspoken agreement to avoid claiming for first-class travel.These tickets are never the cheapest and are often several times the price of a walk-on fare.
For example, Labour MP Phil Wilson claimed £382.50 for a first-class ticket from Darlington to London.
A walk-on standard return costs £106.20, while those booking just a day in advance can pick up two single tickets for a total of £87.
Fellow Labour MP Tony Cunningham claimed three tickets to his Cumbrian constituency at a cost of £291.50 each.
A walk-on standard return costs just £91.20.
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I hate to say it , but your politicians get sleezier by the day .
Peeing on the great unwashed is now a national sport for them .
How much longer are you going to take it ?
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Train fares are a joke. Last time I was in the UK it was cheaper to hire a car for the day and leave it at the hire company office at the airport than to travel by rail. Lucky for me that I did, as the train I would have caught was running late and I would have missed my flight!
If successive governments want the public to ‘leave their cars at home’ then for goodness sake provide decent affordable services.
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they get it alright,just keep on abusing the taxpayers monies,the rogues
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MP = Mega Parasite. Why do they think they can get away with it? Because they know they have the police to quash any demonstrations. I’m surprised they have not come up with an “anti democracy act”.
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MPs should only be allowed expenses for second class fares, if they want to go first class then they should pay the difference.
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Actually I think we are all missing an important part of the story…how can Ed Balls manage to get a Single First Class fare from London to West Yorkshire for only £99? And not just once but 5 times???? Also – Yvette Cooper’s first class fare from London to Wakefield was apparently £116…yet Shadow Environment Secretary Mary Creagh paid £196.50 for first class fares between London her Wakefield Constituency?
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These ugly suits in Parliament need a good sorting out.
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Politicians will lose faith with people who say they sympathise with their people until they share suffering with them. There is little or no integrity left among politicians who have these perks or with union leaders on their 140,000 a year – and living in a council house – salaries. They feel themselves above the mere proletariat.
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Let us eat cake !
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As said already, they get it all right but as they have been doing this for so long they think it is their god given right to travel everywhere 1st class. Like most of the other things that cause offence or financial difficulty to the public they could easily sort them out. They just do not want to. Take travel. All tehy have to do with these greedy, grasping chancers is to make the allowance for travel at the cheapest available ticket. If these clowns think this is below their status then they are free to upgrade to a better seat at their own expense. It isn’t as though they cannot afford it as the tax payer gives them a very adequate salary.
EASY WHEN YOU HAVE THE WILL TO DO IT
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