Dougie to Unleash "Savage Attack' on Nationalists

Douglas Alexander, Labour's general election co-ordinator, will today tell a Labour students' conference at Strathclyde University that a vote for Alex Salmond's SNP will strengthen David Cameron's chances of becoming Prime Minister.

He will unleash a savage attack on the Nationalists, saying their "politics of perpetual protest are not suited to government" and that publication of the draft referendum Bill illustrates their "misplaced priorities".

I may be biased but I certainly don't see perpetual protest from the Scottish government. The fact that cuts will be applied throughout public services is the full responsibility of badly managed finances by the Westminster government and the SG protests no more than other parts of the UK.

Mr Alexander's misplaced priorities don't ring much of a bell either. The SNP want to give the people of Scotland a referendum on their future. What is misplaced about that? Voting for the SNP could well raise the presence of the SNP in Westminster and that would be no bad thing.

He'd be better looking to his department, the Department for International Development which hands out billions of our money to some rather questionable projects. In Nigeria, for example, under the heading of 'tropical forestry projects information system', there are 9 EU projects, 1 Dutch project and 23 DFID (UK) projects.

Makes you think he ought to be spending time looking into his own department's expenditure rather than preaching to the converted in Glasgow.

Tweet

Let's Insist the DFID Spend our Money Wisely

The above flask can save millions of lives. The Department for International Development gives billions of our money to other countries yet millions of people continue to die.

Guido has highlighted the need for the Westminster government to ensure part of the money given to 'developing' countries is centred on providing clean water for their people. I entirely agree with him about wasting money on propaganda videos showing Douglas Alexander wishing folk in Bangladesh a Happy Ramadan. That is an insult to those dying of dehydration in countries where they can't even break their fast with a drink of water.

We do need to start protesting about where our hard-earned tax goes. Remember, our MPs are there to represent us and to question those in government as to where our money goes. Will the conservatives make a difference to the distribution of DFID monies? I won't hold my breath.

Tweet

Update on Douglas Alexander's Payback

I had the pleasure yesterday morning of having a newspaper delivered to my hotel room and I'm still ploughing through it. Knowing there was a comprehensive list of MPs' expenses included I ordered the Telegraph.

Although it doesn't seem to be stated online, there is a list of MPs who have paid back monies to the Treasury. Dougie Alexander's statement reads:

Name: Douglas Alexander Amount: £12,600 For: Rent on property next to second home

We would never have known he had bought a property with a sitting tenant from that description. Makes him all the more devious doesn't it.

Tweet

Douglas Alexander - Busted by the Sun

It was just a couple of weeks ago I was reading somewhere how Dougie Alexander's expenses were in order with small exceptions.

Now it seems Mr Alexander has paid back £12,600 to the Treasury, a sum he received in rent from a lodger at a home for which he was also claiming taxpayers' money. He bought the property, in his constituency, with a sitting tenant and claimed £73,000 in second home allowance and received rent from 2001 until 2005. Mr Alexander said that, when he bought the house, the tenant was living in a single room building of the property. What is a single room building of a property?

He also said he reduced claims for mortgage interest to cover the rent received until the tenant moved out in 2005 but "for the avoidance of doubt" he has now decided to pay back enough to cover what he received in rent.

Nobody, not even the son of the manse Mr Alexander, could convince me that he didn't but this property purely as a property speculator. Only property investors buy properties with sitting tenants.

Seems like someone was onto Mr Alexander's nice wee earner, hopefully a Sun reporter. Dougie is known to like having his photograph in the Sun and he has a lovely one today, so he must be pleased.

Tweet

Darling & Co and Their Tax Accountants

This man, along with eight other cabinet ministers, charged us £11,000 for tax accountants.  Other cabinet ministers include Hazel Blears, Geoff Hoon, Jacqui Smith, David Miliband, Hilary Benn, James Purnell and Douglas Alexander.  

Darling claimed more than £1,300 for accountancy advice over two years.  One claim in February 2008, included the cost of receiving advice on 'the treatment of rental expenses against income', which seems to be a reference to his decision to rent out the flat he owned in London after he moved into a grace-and-favour apartment in Downing Street on becoming chancellor in 2007.  

Hoon claimed almost £3,000 for accountancy - more than any other cabinet minister.  Under tax rules, most workers are not allowed to claim the cost of paying an accountant to help them to fill in a tax return as a legitimate business expense.

Mr Darling was asked why it was appropriate in his role for him to claim for the cost of completing his self-assessment tax return.  In a statement he replied: "Like many MPs, I employed an accountant to prepare tax returns for each of the years in question to ensure that the correct amount of tax was paid."

Exactly Mr Darling, you employed an accountant not the public so you pay for the service. I could live very well on £11,000 for a whole year - even although I still paying a mortgage because your pal Gordon messed up my endowment policies.

Source:  The Telegraph

Tweet