Sick of Starmer relentlessly using the words"difficult " & "painful"

So yes, it should apply to all MP's, but currently it would need a change in the IPSA rules to prevent gifts across the board.
Well since IPSA members are recommended for appointment by the speaker of the HOC, it’s not hard to see why they allow / support pay rises, gifts etc.
As a school governor, I have to declare any vested interest in subjects on the agenda.

No perks for Swedish MPs

Odd as it may sound to the many representatives of the people elsewhere, Sweden does not offer luxury or privileges to its politicians. Without official cars or private drivers, Swedish ministers and MPs travel in crowded buses and trains, just like the citizens they represent.

This is a nation that treats its government officials and political representatives as ordinary citizens. A country without “excellencies” and other formal titles of address. A society that abolished the use of formal pronouns in the 1960s, and where everyone is called simply “you”. Because, according to the Swedish system of values, nobody is above anybody else. Not even politicians, who should live in conditions similar to the reality of the people who elect them.

... and here's the killer...

In the 1990s. The deputy prime minister, Mona Sahlin, bought a bar of chocolate, nappies and some other personal items with a government credit card, and paid dearly for it: she lost her job. The scandal went down in the annals of Swedish politics as the Toblerone Case.

... I was working in bordering Norway at the time - the Toblerone Case made headline news there, too.

The article was written by one Claudia Wallin, an independent journalist and was written in 2019. Whether things have changed since, I don't know.

But, it's interesting.

Thanks Dickens for an interesting and enlightening post.
I wonder what makes their MPs and officials not need the official cars, security etc that ours deem essential? We're often encouraged to look to the Scandinavian model, I'll support adoption of their attitude of all being equal in a heartbeat.

I think the Swedish - and Norwegian - national psyche is rather different to ours.

Many will disagree, but I do believe we are still a nation fundamentally divided by class which affects obviously the way we think about those holding positions of power, etc.

However, it would also be wrong to suggest that Sweden is a classless society. My partner is Swedish and he says it does exist, but it's more 'subtle' - less obvious - and it's mostly the older generation who 'believe' in the class system.

Rosie51

Wyllow3 did you want to make a comparison between Rishi Sunak while PM supporting his football team from the ordinary stands while Starmer considers he needs the 'safety' of being in a gifted hospitality box? I voted for Labour and really hoped they wouldn't be so grasping and greedy as too many of the Conservatives. He obviously doesn't find it difficult to accept freebies. Weren't we led to believe the greed for freebies was going to be no longer once Labour were elected?

We were, but it was obviously a hollow promise. Another lot with their snouts in the trough. 🙄