News is coming out that one potential route to "overcome" the issue of MP expenses and the outcry over what they spend their money on is to...well...properly hide their actions from us so we can't outcry any more!

However this isn't the worst of it, as they are saying they'd like to do this by giving every MP £23k "for their second home", in a move that would both mean that receipts and accounts would seemingly not have to be kept for what they are spending our taxes on, but also meaning some MPs will receive more money every year than they usually spend on their housing needs, effectively wasting even more of our money on what looks amazingly like a pay rise.

The process could involve publication of more than a million pages of documentation, detailing how much public money is spent on mortgage payments, utility bills, kitchen appliances and home renovations for MPs, who need to run second homes away from their constituencies.

If a lump sum payment were made to each MP, the need for these documents to be produced would disappear and there could be a considerable cash boost for those MPs who spend less than the £23,000 permitted.

I personally find this unacceptable. The whole reason for this mess is because the people paying taxes in this country wanted MORE transparency and accountability of where our money is being spent. Now personally I don't mind it when MPs spend our money on food or essential maintenance on their houses, rather than giving them all more money than they need for doing the job expenses can be managed this way and in a way provide a supplemental salary. But seriously, mock Tudor cladding? Window cleaning? Are these not things that they can pay for out of their wage?

Ultimately it's borderline a scandal that it's allowed to happen, I would never dream of making my job pay for my garden upkeep or to wash my path so why MPs feel they can do so is beyond me, but not quite as beyond me as the idea of making it easier for them to hide these kind of actions. If you want to give them a pay rise then do so, but eliminate the possibility for expenses ranging further than travel and office equipment.