LibDems.com

Danny Alexander and Wife, Rebecca Hoar, milking the system

Danny Alexander and his wife ‘Rebecca Hoar’ are under the spotlight again for expenses. Amazingly it is being suggested that no illegality has taken place. Pundits are saying though that Alexander is making full use of all the legal loopholes and is milking the mp expenses system for all he can get.

Alexander has charged taxpayers more than £13,000 for his wife to make 62 journeys between London and Scotland.

Rebecca Hoar, used public money to travel between Westminster and their family home in the North-East Highlands.

The average cost of the trips – by rail and by air – between London and Inverness was £209.

He was quick to denounce the ‘outrageous abuses’ of other MPs and to call for ‘openness and accountability’ when the expenses scandal first emerged. Funny that.

Rules under the expenses system in the last parliament allowed MPs to claim for up to 30 journeys made by their partner between London and their constituency.

A list of the sums claimed was first published in 2007-08, when Mr Alexander clawed back £3,669 for 21 trips by his wife.

Alexander, and his wife, Hoar

That soared to £7,316 in 2008-09 for 29 oneway journeys – the highest bill of any mp. A total of £2,364 was also claimed in just the first quarter of 2009-10, for 12 trips.

Mr Alexander also claimed £1,530 under the ‘family travel’ allowance over the same period, which allowed children to travel to and from London.

A spokesman for The TaxPayers’ Alliance said: ‘It does appear that money could have been saved.

‘MPs need to understand the value of every pound of taxpayers’ money that they spend, so now he is Chief Secretary, he and his wife should make every effort to keep their expenses as low as possible.

‘Families have had to tighten their belts during the recession, so should ministers.’

The details raise questions about Mr Alexander’s expenses because they highlight the way he has chosen to designate his London house as his second home.

His wife of five years works in London and their first child, two-year-old daughter Isobel, is understood to attends nursery in London. So why is she claiming travel expenses to and from Scotland to London. This needs independent investigation. The public are sick of bankrolling politicians and bankers lifestyles. This crap has to stop here. We are calling for a full and thorough investigation, along with reform. I’m amazed at the cheek of Alexander to even stand for this position. His job is to make savings for the country on a mass scale and he’s behaving like this?