MPs expenses
In an earlier posting there was much comment on MP's expenses, and someone with inside knowledge made the statement that
- Out of the £86,299 it may interest you to know that Angus MacNeil paid three full-time salaries, which is not an unreasonable amount of money. He would also have been responsible for paying part of the salary for a member of the SNP Westminster staff. Hardly higher than average wages.
- Angus MacNeil MP shares a constituency office with Western Isles SNP MSP Alasdair Allan. Angus' staff assist with constituency inquiries and casework. Angus' staff are:
Kenny MacLeod - Office Manager
Rona MacDonald (sic) - Parliamentary Officer
Jane MacNeil - part-time Parliamentary Assistant (Jane is married to Angus)
At Westminster Angus shares staff with the other SNP Westminster MPs:
Luke Skipper - Chief of Staff
Alexander Anderson - Head of Communications
Anne Harvey - Parliamentary Business Manager
Richard Thomson - Head of Research
21 comments:
According to the Scotsman, MacNeil hasn't owned up yet.
But look at the salaries, and do the arithmetic!
These are the top-end salaries for MPs' staff:
Office managers/executive secretaries £40,052
Senior secretaries £30,363
Junior secretaries £25,195
Senior caseworkers £29,716
Caseworkers £25,195
Senior research/parliamentary assistants £40,052
Research/parliamentary assistants £34,240
Do I smell rank hypocrisy from the supposedly 'squeaky-clean' MacNeil?
Just what does Jane do for her (OUR!) money -- apart from put up with his philandering?
Caught!
Perhaps the Met Police should be asked to investigate.
I hear that Jane looks after his local affairs whilst Rhona deals with his affairs further afield.
Kenny is in charge of keeping them apart from each other.
Tongue firmly in cheek :-)
Alasdair Morrison of course only employed his sisters husband.So thats allright then. Donald Stewart had his wife on the payroll but he was regarded as statesman so that is OK as well. Isnt it.
Does the figure include travel expenses? Did the former Chairman of Env Committee (03-07) of CnES EVER claim travel expenses?
What is wrong with employing family? If we were in a situation at the moment of having Angus Nicolson MSP you could bet your house that his secretary would be S. Nicolson (Mrs)!! Where the problem lies is when MPs (or other public figures) employ someone and do not expect them to work for their salary. That can be as easily done with a total stranger as an effeminate older son, or the workshy younger student son.
creaky endow
The £86,299 is staff costs (including/excluding pension?) only, and as can be seen here, there were travel expenses of £37,273 in addition.
And yes, I did claim travel expenses which were published annually, all of which can be examined by the public, unlike MPs expenses.
Creaky Endow
I object to your assumption that the only way I can earn a living is to be Angus' secretary.
I am a Qualified Accountant in my own right and earn my own living thank you very much and don't sponge off anyone including my husband.
The problem is not with MP's employing family, but with them employing family who don't actually do any work for them.
By the way Angus, your sources into the going's on inside 31 Bayhead don't seem up to much these days.
My sources tell me that Rona MacDonald has replaced Rhona Martin working for our MP. So your use of "sic" is incorrect, Angus.
What's the problem here? Is he employing people he's not entitled to? Is he paying them too much? Has he not followed the appropriate disclosure rules?
Personally, I don't think its fair to disclose an individuals salary just because they work for an MP, but it does seem from Anon 8:40's figures that the cost of employing an office manager, a parliamentary officer and a part-time parliamentary assistant would be close to £85k.
The words "storm", "tea cup" and "quiet news day" spring to mind.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
Nothing here folks. Move on now.
Mrs MacNeil is just being given hush money so that she doesn't leave ABM whilst he is in office.
Rhona is reportedly in charge of Internal Affairs.....
Kenny is the face of the local party.
Anon 3:27
Are you implying that there are "goings on" inside 31 Bayhead. Enlighten us please
Sic, is it Angus? Get your facts straight.
as far as i know 'sic' is just another way of saying 'to quote'. Explain where Angus went wrong?!
I hear that Rhona and Mr MacNeil "fell out" quite badly and she quit saying that she'd had enough of him. So he hired the other Rona in her place. Good to see the post advertised again.
Anon 10:23,
From the Cambridge Dictionary:
sic: a word written in brackets (SYMBOL) after a word that you have copied to show that you know it has been spelled or used wrongly
Angus is incorrect because he used "sic" to indicate that there was an error in the document he was quoting from. The document was correct - it's just that Angus' "sources" were out of date.
You can join him at the back of the class...
this is just a bit petty, i'm ni lover of the snp or labour for that matter but these xpenses mean nothing, if our msp has trouble keeping his trousers on then lets see some proof, not that this matters a lot if he is doing his job.
it's very easy to be bitter at what life throws at you the measure is how you react
£37k is MPs travel costs.I'm sure if his staff need to travel on work related they are also reimbursed and that this is under a separate heading from MP travels costs and probably under a different heading - maybe even under staff costs. Come on Angus, you're married to an accountant surely she can help you figure this out!!
or knew decay - I think you will find that 'staff travel' of £789 is probably included in the heading of 'staff travel'
anon 10:23 Sorry, i was wrong, you were right! humble appologies LS
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