merseybeatle wrote:
I'm pretty sure you don't get a prison sentence for a first offence of benefit fraud, not according to the adverts on the tv at the moment anyway. If you steal, you should be arrested and prosecuted, with a suitable sentence depending on the severity and duration of the crime.
Maybe you don't get a prison sentence, can't say I know for sure. You do get prosecuted though. The MP's who swindled their expenses? They won't get prosecuted. There's the rub. If the laws say the MP's didn't break it then the law should be changed *before* any new policy comes in on benefit cheats because in many of the cases it was fraud, pure and simple.
merseybeatle wrote:
The reason we have our justice system is to decide fair sentences based on circumstances.. for people (not necessarily yourself) to suggest it's ok for a person to commit a crime because someone is a bit hard up or say "well, the mp's swindled a few quid, so what's the harm?" is quite honestly the logic of a child copying someone's bad behaviour in a playground and using a similar excuse of "well they did it" when reprimanded.
The difference is that a lot of benefit cheats do so out of necessity - 64 quid a week is almost impossible to live on these days once accumulated debt such as utility bills start coming into play. Do you think in a developed country anyone should have to decide whether to have the heating on or eat properly or buy some more clothes? Because those are the kind of choices that have to be made.
The MP's fiddled their expenses out of pure *greed*, from claiming for plugs, irons, 450/month for food etc to claiming for two houses. Why should *any* of this be on expenses? The most risible display during the whole expenses episode in my opinion came from Hazel Blears who made a big deal on TV brandishing a cheque she was going to pay back to the Inland Revenue for tax she obviously knew she'd swindled through a loophole. She made *£80,000* on the sale of two *taxpayer-subsidised* properties (why is *she* making money on this?) without paying capital gains tax as well!
Fraud! She should be in jail before anyone else, before any new witch hunt of people in desperate situations. Anyone else would be and for these shameless people to start having a go at anyone less fortunate than them, cynically trying to win votes in an election year...? Jesus.. Is this the best they can do, get the proles to snitch on each other?