In article , (Roland
Perry) wrote:

In message , at 19:47:46
on Mon, 13 Jul 2009, Recliner remarked:
Looking down the list and picking the first person as my random
example: Ms Diane Abbott claimed around £131k, *none* of which was
for a second home.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8044207.stm

If they ran their offices as self-employed businesses, they would, but
I don't doubt that they exempted themselves (not to save money, but
just to simplify their paperwork). In fact, I don't know if the money
for things like staff costs isn't paid directly to the staff, rather
than via the MP's books.

One of the proposed changes is that the staff will be paid direct
from Westminster. (Which sounds to me like something that will
require a whole new layer of admin, so they can be assured what
hours those people have actually worked).

MPs' staff salaries are already paid by Parliament (says he looking at
wife's payslip). They are employed by the MPs, though.

The plan is for Parliament to employ the staff. This is leading to utter
confusion on how MPs decide who works for them.

--
Colin Rosenstiel