Jacqui 'Lightfingered' Smith appeared last night on the BBC's Question Time. (I will let you decide if this is more or less controversial than having the BNP on.)Anyway, she was asked whether MP's disgraced by the expenses fiasco should be elevated to the House of Lords (as she will be next May, believe it or not!). Obviously she barely attempted to answer the question and what she did say was quite unsatisfactory. Then an audience member challenged her about the £116,000 she claimed wrongly for 'not' living in her sisters bedsit. When asked if she would pay this back, she said that the committee investigating the matter, decided that although she had done wrong, it would have cost the taxpayer the same amount if she had, actually claimed correctly for a second home, therefore, she said, she would not have to pay it back as she had not benefited from it.
Excuse me? She claimed quite wrongly, indeed some might argue fraudulently, a total of £116,000 of taxpayers money as a second home allowance for a home she neither had nor lived in, or payed any pay rent or mortgage on... and she claims now that she did not benefit from this money? If that is the case, where exactly did this £116,000 go to?
