UKPLC

The cost of the Leveson inquiry continues to spiral upwards with no definite ceiling in place. The latest figures available for the Leveson inquiry costs show more than £2 million has already been paid out with more ongoing costs still to come.

Both the Home Office and Department for Culture, Media and Sport are funding the inquiry without seeking to recover costs. This does not make good business sense. Both departments should seek to recover costs instead of letting the inquiry drain their budgets.

The latest published accounts for the Leveson inquiry are available here.

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Rebekah Brooks, her husband and four others are facing charges relating to the phone hacking scandal. This comes as no surprise given the ongoing media attention surrounding the issue. The big question is why tax payers are responsible for funding high profile cases without the ability to recover costs. This is clearly a great opportunity to put some ministry of justice reforms in place to show the public the government means business.

The CPS charging statement is available here.

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Should the UK tax payer really have to fork out cash on iPads for MPs so they can play Angry Birds or Temple Run?

Or would it be better if they paid proper attention to reducing the UK debt they are responsible for?

Granted, the current government is not solely responsible for the record £1 trillion debt, but frittering money away by giving MPs more freebies is not the way to show they are serious about reducing the debt.

How much will it actually cost for the 650 MPs to get an iPad?

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Currently there are 650 MPs in the House of Commons after the 2010 General election. This number is much higher than actually needed and reducing the number of MPs obviously reduces the overall cost to the taxpayer.

As of April 2010, the minimum annual salary for an MP was £65,738. According to Parliament UK (link to PDF document), on 21st March 2011 the House agreed to freeze pay for up to two years. This is a start on curbing the excess spending. Cutting the number of qualifying people will have a much greater impact.

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