Disabled MPs Who Claimed For Energy On Expenses
Following the Sunday Mirror investigation which uncovered the shocking fact that 340 MPs claimed for their energy bills on expenses, the publication yesterday named and shamed them in the form of a written list.
With great, deep sadness, I learnt last night that there are no fewer than four disabled MPs on their list, and two of the three MPs who have been Ministers for Disabled People since the Coalition Government took power.
In order of amount, they are:
- Paul Maynard MP £1204.61 for gas and electricity.
- David Blunkett MP £1095.91 for gas and electricity.
- Andrew George MP £593.05 for gas and electricity.
- Dame Anne Begg MP £120.74 for electricity.
I used to look up to all four of these people. I used to be proud of their achievements. I used to be inspired by them. I used to want to be like them.
Tonight, with great sadness, I realised they were no better than any other able bodied politician.
I feel betrayed. And I no longer want to be anything like them.
Politics is my great interest, Parliament is my ultimate dream. However, my roots have always been, and will always be, in disability. If I should ever be lucky enough to enter Parliament, I will never forget those roots. I will never forget the struggles and challenges that ordinary disabled people face every day to pay bills. I will never forget that at heart, I too am an ordinary disabled person.
In times like these, while ordinary disabled people face impossible choices about how to pay energy bills, which are being raised by energy companies at the speed of light, I will never, ever, understand how disabled MPs could have lived with themselves after forgetting their roots and betraying their own community by claiming for energy.
As for the two Ministers, I wouldn’t have expected any less from them. We always hated them both anyway. In order of amount:
- Maria Miller MP £2011 for electricity.
- Esther McVey MP £467.42 for electricity.
All I have to say about them is that neither of them are disabled. They didn’t have to agree to represent disabled people. If they could live with themselves, watching energy prices rise, knowing how much the rises would directly affect the very people they represented, and knowing that they got their energy for free, why did they choose to represent us?
At least Mike Penning, our current Minister, doesn’t appear to be on the list.
If there are any disabled MPs on the Sunday Mirror list that I haven’t listed here, please do let me know in the comments below. I have only left them off because I don’t know they are disabled, but I will add them gladly.
Same Difference 
I’m not sure on why they have claimed as all of them have large bank accounts
once a greedy person always a greedy person it’s very simple when you dig deep
very sad but that’s the people of the UK now just thinking of themselves as Mrs thatcher taught them to do
I’ve yet to meet any lord or mp member of the royal family that wasn’t very tight with money and have known many at close quarters over the past 50 years
they’ve not only have been very tight with their money but there also very tight with their time
my mp for example (Tory) only ever calls round before the election says his just passing but when i need him in an emergency he’s busy
in reality all mp’s are just very expensive CAB workers and that’ about it nothing more nothing less
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Itis rather a paradox.
I have a lot of respect for Dame Anne Begg: supposedly her small claim covered additional electrical costs concerning her wheelchair and assistive equipment in her role?
Because when anyone with a condition that would escalate running costs in a challenging paid role with responsibility, it would have been acceptable to claim expenses just for this in a business sense.
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I see that point, Penny.
The difference here, though, is that Dame Anne Begg is in public attention with many watching her every move. She is in a position of authority through which she represents many who are not able to find £120 to pay for energy at the moment.
And she is lucky enough to get a salary high enough that she can spare £120 out of it.
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We Don’t Know What We Don’t Know……
I agree with Penny I am amazed that Anne is still in parliament doing the amazing job that she does. Many many moons ago I watched a documentary about Anne and how she lives with her impairments. I was staggered then the amount of energy she has despite her invisible conditions and the rigmarole she has to contend with in order to keep well this was back in the 90’s. I can vividly see her with a drip that she has to self administer on a regular basis and she rests and keeps warm while doing this.
Despite having an horrendous accident falling out of her wheelchair outside of the houses of parliament and being hospitalized in St Thomas Hospital last year and unable to get home for sometime to Scotland she still continues to keep on keeping on.
Having worked with Anne I would say she is astounding and outstanding ~ a good quality MP the likes of which are few and far between in our parliament today.
The Daily Mirror via the Freedom of Information Act has published these figures that you have quoted however it is for a second home IE away from their own homes. I would suggest being disabled myself keeping warm is essential where ever I am.
It is apparent MP’s can make a legitimate claim for heating otherwise they would be breaking the law.
Although I do agree some non disabled MP’s claims for energy are unreasonable in the extreme and anger me greatly!! Considering the big 6 energy suppliers have got us all over a barrel for paying for their salaries bonuses shareholders and making profits what are “our government” doing about it? Nothing as far as I can see.
Yes I agree it is dreadful how disabled people and those on low income are being treated including myself I got a whopping £500 duel fuel bill from British Gas I have since swapped suppliers. However it is something I worry about very much so that and food prices going sky high as well.
However I know The Daily Saturday and Sunday Mirror have to sell papers in order to keep them going and they chose to highlight under the FOI act what MP’s claim what for heating their second homes as it is excuse the pun a “hot topic” at the moment.
I would say Ann can claim what ever she wants to keep warm she needs to i am not bothered Indeed all four MP’s who have impairments live some considerable time and distance away from their own homes so would need support.
I am more bothered about other non disabled MP’s who do not live so far away from their own homes and are still making claims. For example Maria Miller MP who was a previous Minister for Disabled People who lives in Basingstoke and then claims £2011.00 since when was Basingstoke in Scotland?
Keep up the good work and the blogging just remember to take a breath now and again try not to let the dreaded myopic vision crowd your judgement although it is hard I know.
I certainly know how frustrating it is when you’re in the thick of things and want a better quality of life for all disabled people and those on low income and for them to live in a nation that celebrates diversity ~ uniqueness and individuals for the compassion and spirit they bring to what should be a more inclusive society 🙂
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A minor point, but this is nothing to do with FOI. All the information is easily and publicly available on the website of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority.
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I say* how dare they refer to use as scrounger’s! pig’s at the trough*
comes to my mind!
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I have just received this via email That I am copying and pasting here ~
New comment on Same Difference
harry mnain commented on Disabled MPs Who Claimed For Energy On Expenses.
in response to samedifference1:
Following the Sunday Mirror investigation which uncovered the shocking fact that 340 MPs claimed for their energy bills on expenses, the publication yesterday named and shamed them in the form of a written list. With great, deep sadness, I learnt last night that there are no fewer than four disabled MPs on their list, and […]
angela your a shitbagt
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Shame we have to share the planet with such low life that is all I can say and also this is the first time I have commented on here I won’t be doing the same again for sure if this is the type of “intelligent” comment you get!!!!!
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Anne begg gets a large salary irrespective of her disability and just because she’s out and about does not mean she should from the public purse get some sort of additional allowance for her work
there are many disabled like her in this country that get no extra then their benefits and who struggle like mad to keep going and it’s to this group of people we should focus on and not Anne as she gets much more support in her life then most
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Nick thank you for your comment however your missing one point which is MP’s are allowed to make a claim…. it is not illegal. It can be morally wrong of course but not illegal.
As for Anne she has worked hard for where she is “at” and like a lot of working disabled people also claims DLA she has admitted this in committee to Ester McVey MP when she was Minister for Disabled People because at the time Ester got it wrong saying you couldn’t receive DLA if you were working!
You may well believe that is wrong too and many will but again it isn’t illegal.
What I personally find more abhorrent is the continual attack on disabled people et al via this government who are quite frankly taking the disability movement back to the 1940’s when at least we knew what we were dealing with.
This condem government Ian Duncan Smith Lord Freud et al are to my mind evil minded and are not focusing on the real scroungers (as many disabled people have been called) IE people who evade their tax bills by employing accountants to make it appear they are not earning as much as they really are.
Also the big 6 power companies are just as bad taking money that far out strips the mega benefits disabled people receive. I am NOT by any means supporting this government what so ever however Anne is right in there fighting you can listen to her in her committee she is very clever the way she charms MP’s and civil servants into a corner ~ do listen her committee meetings some are available on line via the dot gov pages and I am grateful that Anne is fighting a corner on our behalf.
http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Main/Archive.aspx
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i understand Angela that mp’s can make a claim…. but personally i think it’s unwise to do so
if their were at home they would be using their own fuel i cant see that if you then stay elsewhere and use fuel you should get a discount;makes no sense as that way you are now getting a much smaller home bill and a discounted bill on your second home so it’s a win situation on both homes
as for Anne’s works and her claiming DLA that is correct and i have no problem at all with that ‘as for style on the select committee i feel she is not up to the task at all
she has allowed so many deaths to take place and has not been effective when dealing with IDS who has walked all over her
she has not spoken out to the country about these ongoing welfare reforms that have and are continuing to kill people the list total official of deaths at the last count in 2012 was around ten thousand six hundred
that figure today is obversely much higher as to how high as the DWP wont release the lightest figures is anyone’s guess
IDS should be brought to committee every month with an updated death-toll that’s red out to the committee and the circumstances of how they’ve died
all of these ongoing deaths including bedroom tax deaths should be recorded with all of the names involved of those that have died so that in due course a full and proper remembrance day can be officially declared for the benefit of all of the family’s involved and that the country can acknowledge the atrocities that have taken place
Also all of the officials at the DWP /ATOS and all those involved in the drafting up and implementing the welfare reform bill their names of all responsible should be handed over to the police for investigations into criminal negligence in which sick and disabled have died in going through the welfare reform bill
with regret anne begg has not got anywhere near the level of detail i would have brought to her role as chairman Chair of the Work and Pensions Select Committee.
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Hi Nick
Thank you again for your comments ~ to be totally honest I agree the majority of what you have said ~ I am pleased to have had a albeit “comment” debate with you which to my mind is incredibly useful and a healthy thing to do. ~ I guess I was trying to put a point across that at least we have Anne who does the best she can with her limitations and is reasonable and respected within parliament and we all can be more effective no one is perfect;
In a cack handed way I was trying to put over that we have a representative in parliament who knows some of the issues disabled people face is seen in parliament and on TV by other non disabled people and that it itself is a good thing and will hopefully encourage more disabled people to become involved.
Perhaps we should create a new political party because for sure none of the elected ones really understand the full issues that have a devastating impact disabled people
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indeed Angela the politics of today is well off the mark of integrity i know Anne does her best but she falls short of speaking of the sick and disabled that have died
IDS will go before a court at some point to explain to a judge why so many have died and continue to die through welfare reform
if i were Anne she should focus more on those that have died and what steps IDS to protect them
a special legal/welfare hotline set up would be a big step forward in offering the much needed protection for those that fall through the gaps or are not filling out there forms in the correct manor which then leads to their death as they are then classed as fit for work when they aren’t and then die
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Well said Nick a very good point indeed
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Hi Angela,
The comment was deleted as soon as I saw it about an hour ago. Please accept my apologies that it was emailed to you.
This site has a strict comments policy stating that personal insults against anyone are not allowed. Sadly, Harry chose not to follow that policy on this occasion.
I hope you will continue to read and comment at Same Difference.
Best wishes
Samedifference1.
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