Maria Miller

It is time that MP salaries included a means tested fixed grant for travel/second home costs. This would take account of any other earned /unearned income plus distance of constituency/difficulty of access from Westminster.

Maria Millar constituency is Basingstoke & she lives in Wimbledon. It takes about an hour to travel from Wimbledon to Basingstoke by train. It is only a 45 minute journey to Waterloo (then 10 minute wlk to Westminster) from Basingstoke. It takes about 15 minutes to Waterloo from Wimbledon. Not sure why a second home is absolutely necessary! Loads of novotel / premier style hotels near Westminster for late sittings/ occasional late nights which would prove a lot cheaper than a second mortgage!

Any MP living within the M25 should not have a second home, full stop. If her constituents are expected to commute daily, then so should she. Had a fine case here where the MP for Chelmsford ( worked in Transport, responsible for trains) claimed that he had to have a chauffeur driven car every day into the Commons, couldnt possible travel with the people he represents. Arrogant bastard chap. D Cameron has really got to get things sorted if he is going to have any credibility. And as for Grant Shapps...........

Puts rather a new slant on MPs favourite saying of 'we're all in it together'

It truly is ridiculous that she should have been entitled to claim this as a second home at all given how near she lives, let alone install her parents there and get us to pay for it! Unbelievable! If DC does not sack her, he is in for a kicking from the voters. Has he not yet worked out how much this annoys ordinary people managing on ordinary incomes?

I do not have a problem if grandparents are doing childcare as that makes sense to have them there. But really if she was living in Wimbledon before becoming Basingstoke MP she did not need another 'home'. An hour's journey to work is not unusual! Some days to Westminster others to Basingstoke. An occasional overnight stay in Westminster/Basingstoke in a cheap hotel to cope with late events would not be that terrible!

I agree, I too think Maria Miller should resign as Minister.

I also think if she did then 'all' of those who did the same should resign whether Ministers or backbenchers. Parliament would be empty probably but at least it would be a fair solution.

My problem with this however is the partisan politics by Labour MP John Mann.

I never heard him call for the resignations of the likes of Ed Balls and Yvette Cooper, David Miliband, Hazel Blears etc. etc. There were some very big hitters in both parties and they should all do the same. It's worth bringing up the expenses scandal lists and remember the names and amounts MP's from all parties were found guilty of 'borrowing' from the tax payer.

Don't stop at Maria Miller Mr. Mann and I just might accept you really are principled.

I expect that is why the 'cross party' committee did not recommend her resignation and just ordered a low pay back and apology.
She could have done herself a favour by apologising with a bit of sincerity!

I agree.

An interesting thought from today's Wright Stuff. If DC sacks Mrs Miller, he 'll also need to sack several other Cabinet Members for similar reasons. Is that the REAL reason he is continuing to back her?? !!

Found this while skimming through the dreaded DM online . Maybe Ms Miller should sell hers?

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2598465/Higher-fines-dole-cheats-lose-homes-Iain-Duncan-Smith-unveils-latest-reforms-welfare-system.html

There is no doubt that she was on the make but presumably staying within the law.

No different I suppose from all the other MPs, including Osborne, who 'flipped' their main residence to avoid tax.

From what I've read, the house was bought cheaply at £237,00 and she continued to re-mortgage up to over £500,00 and the taxpayer paid the interest.

She has now benefited hugely from the crazy increase in London property prices.

The whole thing stinks

I've just signed the petition from Change.org to sack her. Can't do the link. I'm ashamed of her as a woman .i thought we were more principled.

GillT57, I think the even more 'dreaded' MOS ran a story by her (I think) agent who was so appalled by her behaviour at the last election he decided not to vote for her and voted Labour instead!

Her smug face tells it all.

Who are Cameron's advisers? They must be so out of touch. Or is he becoming just as pigheaded and arrogant? I did think he had the makings of a man of principle but somewhere he has gone off the track.

I cannot vote for a party which contains the likes of Tony Blair and Peter Mandelson so I will just have to spoil my ballot paper.

I've signed the petition.

Who are Cameron's advisers? They must be so out of touch. Or is he becoming just as pigheaded and arrogant?

I think they see advisors in a different capacity to the way we see them: we usually take their advice where politicians seem to flit from advisor to advisor until they find one that agrees with them.

Don't all MPs end up being pigheaded and arrogant?

I did think he had the makings of a man of principle but somewhere he has gone off the track.

It does seem to happen to all of them and it's why an end should be brought to the whole career politician ever being elected.

As David Cameron said recently "It is [y]our money" - if this were someone on benefits who had made an incorrect claim, their benefits would have been stopped - this lady has clearly made an incorrect claim and in my opinion any income she receives from us taxpayers should therefore be stopped - permanently

What so annoys me, apart from the bear faced cheek of the wretched woman, is that any profit that they make on the backs of the tax payers in the rise of the price of their house back goes right into their pockets.

It is doubly annoying when the Tories are busy taking from the poor, in order to avoid tax rises, but to squirrel away dosh from the tax payer is utterly immoral.

Maybe those MPs who make a killing on the sale of properties WE have paid the mortgages for should be required to pay their hand-out back out of the proceeds. There should be a clause in the agreement that says that any profit made should be repaid to the tax payer, based in the principle that they should not be in it for a profit. There should also be a ceiling to what can be paid out, so we are not forking out for luxury pads.

How can the MMs of this world square this with their consciences (?) when so may people are homeless or in housing need.

We imprison petty criminals and promote major criminals to high office. Can't remember who said that but how true. Sack her.

It seems that MPs can't be trusted not to take advantage of a system that allows them to increase their earnings in ways that were not intended for that purpose.

We obviously have to be fair to MPs who live far from London but why do we have to assist them to buy property and, by virtue of house price inflation, let them make a big profit - in the case of Maria Miller a cool one million pounds.

They should receive a rent allowance.

I'm sorry but if it is the case that other MP's from Labour, Conservative and Lib Dems have done the same, and they have, why don't they also have a petition to make them resign.

I am not condoning Maria Miller, as I posted before, I just can't understand how there is a group loss of memory when it comes to other MP's and parties when it suits.

For me, it's the fact that she deliberately obstructed the enquiry and delayed proceedings for as long as she could that makes me condemn her more than the rest. As well as the fake 'apology'.

Some MPs have been to prison for less than the independent committee said she should repay. The committee of MPs said she only neede to repay £5000+. It's not group loss of memory.
I used to teach a couple of stops further down the line from Basingstoke, and lots of people in the village commuted to London daily from there. In fact some of the kids I taught used to sign themselves in, then catch the train to London and be back for the school bus!
So it's not impossible to just claim travel expenses or the occasional hotel bill. I understood that the home where your family lived was the first home, not the second, so you could not claim for that one.

www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/the-government-sack-maria-miller-mp
When you get on the site, there are about ten petitions about Maria Miller, all slightly differently worded.