Following the exposure of details of his private life in the Daily Telegraph, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury has issued a statement, which is reproduced with comments by Stephen Tall on Liberal Democrat Voice.
Nobody has been defrauded here.There has been no "flipping". Laws has probably charged the taxpayer rather less, for the necessity of maintaining a London home, than would have been the case if he had gone to the open market. I'm sorry that he felt it necessary to return money to the taxpayer, which looks like an admission of guilt.
It seems to me that the situation is analogous to MPs' renting constituency offices from a local party organisation, as is the case with Labour in Neath, as I understand it. So long as the market rate is paid, there is surely nothing wrong with such a mutually beneficial arrangement.
The suggestion has already been made that this story has been broken in the Tory Telegraph by people annoyed at the prospect of losing some of their perks, such as taking advantage of low capital transfer tax on property, under the new politics. David Laws is recognised as the driving force behind cutting costs and tax loopholes. There are many Conservatives - as well as City friends of New Labour - who would like to bring him down.
3 comments:
I seem to remember that a certain MP within spitting distance of where I'm sitting, charged for clearing his back yard of rubbish! The excuse given was he had broken his arm in a mountain bike accident, and wasn't able to do it himself. Which makes it all right then, NOT. If I broke my arm or any other limb, and hired a garden clearer, who would pay for it????
The BBC was also making big play on this on News 24 today, David Laws sexuality is nothing to do with the Media.
- and now Laws has resigned, presumably to save the government having to suffer continuous moans from the media, which would be a distraction from his work.
As I posted elsewhere, I disagree with Laws' enthusiasm for privatisation, so when he does come back, I hope it is not in Health or Transport. However, he was ideally suited to the job of Chief Secretary. It is hard to see Danny Alexander being as effective.
I feel sorry that David Laws felt he had to resign because he is gay. I think he would have made an excellent Cabinent Minister. It is ashame his private life got in the way.
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