This last week we have seen more and more revalations about expenses; in fact over the last year or so, there has been scandal after scandal about excessive or just plain corrupt expense claims.

The stories always seem to follow the same line, MP/MEP is caught out trying to cheat the system, MP/MEP claims they have done nothing wrong, this is a part of their salary, it is normal! Then all the fuss dies down and they carry on as usual.

Am I the only person who thinks this is wrong?

If I was living with my family, and I claiming housing benefit, I would be prosecuted by the same people who believe it is their right to take as much money as possible from us.

For 10 years in Parliament the average MP will receive over £600,000 in wages, a very good pension and over £1 Million in expenses.

We have created a political class, many politicians have never had a real job, they move from university into a political advisor role and then on as an MP or MEP and it’s “Snouts in the Trough” time.

Something really needs to change here, we are being governed by selfish and dishonest people who’s only aganda is to fill their pockets with as much of our cash asthey possible can, these people are severely out of touch and not fit to govern our great country.

Let us put a stop to this now, we need to limit our politicians, I suggest that we restrict them to a maximum of two terms in Parliament then they are unable to stand for election again, this will destroy the political class and ensure that real people are involved in Government.

I challenge the leaders of all the main parties, if you are serious about cleaning up our political system, then put your money where your mouth is, and limit on the length of Parliamentary careers.

No one is saying that MP’s shouldn’t be paid, or even they they shouldn’t be able to claim for expenses but it is time this culture of dishonesty came to an end; if you want to know all about MP’s wages and expenses then here are the answers:-

So they don’t seem to be underpaid, good salary, ministerial top-up and excellent pension scheme, plus expenses. You would think that with such a generous package there would be no need to claim £67 for TV and Internet at home, or even employ your husband at £40,999 a year but it happens.

We have always suspected that our politicians are dishonest, but this just proves that they are out to milk the system for every penny, they are no better than the Bankers.

My MP, Dr Liam Fox claimed a total of £142,339  expenses in the year 06/07, or a grand total of £729,258 in the last six years;  if you want to see how much your MP claimed in expenses take a look at http://www.theyworkforyou.com/.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith is at it again, she was recently in the news for claiming “second home” expenses on her family home in Redditch, and now is back in the headlines for claiming the cost of two adult movies on commons expenses.

I am open minded, if she likes adult movies in the privacy of her own home then that’s not a problem, but I don’t see why we have to pay for them. Jacqui says the movies were claimed on Commons expenses by mistake!

How can we trust the Home Secretary to  look after policing, national security, immigration, and matters of citizenship, when she can’t even fill out an expenses claim correctly?

It is about time we started really looking at what is going on inside our political system.

Ever since the first European elections in 1979, voter turnout has been in steady decline.

In the 2004 European elections the UK vote fell below 40%, showing that most people either didn’t care, or didn’t think that their vote counted. The alternative view is that people are unhappy with who they are being asked to vote for.

Last time around we had a selection of candidates for all the main parties, but still the vote declined, maybe the problem is obvious. The main parties just don’t hold the same appeal for voters as they used to. All we seem to see in UK politics is sleaze and corruption, no wonder that given the opportunity to vote for more of the same, we all just sigh, and carry on as normal.

I want this to change; party politics is not working for the majority of people in the UK; it is time for a fresh outlook. Instead of having the option to vote for more of the same, I want people to register their protest by voting for an independent candidate; not only will we be sending an important message to the main parties, but we will also be electing someone who is totally responsible to the voters.

Independent candidates are lining up to represent you, take a look at the leading contenders at the Jury Team Website.

For many years now our economy and our lifestyles have been fuelled by cheap energy, everything we do from building cars to importing food is as a result of having access to cheap energy, at the moment this takes the form of Oil and Gas but as we all know these resources are running out.

The amount of money being spent globally on importing food is set to top $1 trillion in 2009, for the UK most of our food is imported, in fact the Government has already said that without imports we could only produce enough food to feed half of the people in the UK.

Cheap energy fuels our lifestyle and is a necessary part of our economy, but the excessive use of Oil and Gas has an adverse effect on the environment, we need to make changes now if we are to survive the next 30 years.

We all know about renewable energy, everyone has seen wind turbines and solar panels but currently these are providing more energy for our ever increasing appetite, not replacing existing sources of energy.

To really make a difference we need to hit this problem from both sides, we have to reduce our consumption of energy; this can be achieved by producing more food in the UK instead of importing it, by improving public transport to reduce our reliance on the car and by building energy efficient homes. None of this is rocket science and much more importantly it is all easily achievable.

Currently reducing energy consumption is a costly thing to do; triple glazing, solar panels and heavy insulation are all expensive items, but there are things we can do to reduce these costs. Saving energy must be seen as the cheaper option so we need to reduce taxes and duties on a range of energy saving products and devices, making the green option the cheaper option; only by doing this will we ever convince people to make these changes.

To really have an important impact on energy consumption we need to do something about the car, we all have them and we all love them but they waste fuel at a terrific rate, increasingly nowadays our cars burn fuel in traffic jams, but we wouldn’t be without them. What we need is an alternative energy car, people won’t convert from a car to an electric bicycle, so we need to produce a car that is clean, energy efficient and affordable. This will only happen if we give incentives to manufacturers to produce such a car, we have all the tools at our disposal all we lack is the political will to use them, tax breaks, development grants and energy efficiency policies could be used to ensure that green cars are the first choice for manufacturers.

When it comes to wasting energy the car really is our worst enemy, but what alternative do we have, public transport is expensive and poor, if we are serious about saving energy then we have to look again at the provision of public transport in an attempt to produce a transport infrastructure that offers a real alternative to the car.

MP Tony McNulty recently added himself to an ever increasing list of MP’s who profit from the scandal that is MP’s expenses; even though Mr McNulty lives just 3 miles away from Westminster he has been claiming £14,000 a year for a second home.

I can understand MP’s who live outside of London needing a second home in the capital, but not an MP who actually lives so close to Westminster; if this wasn’t enough the all important second home turns out to be further away from Westminster than his main residence!

Tony McNulty has seriously compromised himself and shown that he has no integrity, if he had a conscience  he would offer to pay it back but instead he just expects us to believe that he has done nothing wrong, where is the accountability?

I am very disappointed in all of our money grabbing politicians.

As an Independent Candidate in the Euro Elections I need your support, please text

ROGWHI01 

to  

86837

and register a vote for Democracy.

Why would I like to represent my region?

I would like to represent the South West region in the European parliament because I feel that as a normal man in the street I am not currently represented. I believe that the only way to deal with problems is to solve them by using a combination of common sense and experience both of which seem to be lacking in modern politics.

I will campaign for a reduction in European Parliament Expenses to end the European Gravy Train.
I will campaign for a more transparent and responsive European Parliament with real links to the communities they represent; it is time to put an end to the remote European Parliament that makes decisions that are not in the best interests of the people they represent.

I will campaign for improvements in transportation links, and job opportunities in the South West.

Most of all I will campaign for common sense improvements to reduce carbon emissions and improve our environment, green energy schemes are important but equally important are schemes that reduce overall energy consumption.

I want to push forward proposals at the European level to make the common sense low energy option affordable to everyone, this will include the removal of tax and duty on electric vehicles with incentives for manufacturers to develop practical electric cars. There will also be proposals for reducing the cost of public transport while increasing its availability giving people a real alternative to cars.

We need a common sense approach across the board.