Stop saying sorry, Mps who took liberties should resign.

Gordon Brown, (Labour) David Cameron (Conservatives) and Nick Clegg (Liberal Democrats) have now all said sorry on behalf of their MPs who have been claiming excessive expenses. Seems that it was not too long ago that another hapless group, the banking elite, were doing the same thing. Its funny how Harriot Harman spoke then about the 'Court of Public Opinion' and how Fred the Shred was not going to get away with his millions after the government had bailed out his failed bank. I suspect, that the so called “ Court of public Opinion “ will not be called in to session by Ms Harman or any other MP in the foreseeable future because of the expenses crisis that has exploded. Furthermore, its unlikely that many of the apologetic bankers and politicians will be tried by the public and many will walk away blissfully with the money that was they extorted.

Its often been said that the rich, are only rich because they never give anything away. However, its a large number of politicians who have become Richer simply by taking money from a floored system that they they themselves created. It seemed like child's play. Systematically, they dipped their hands into an expenses pot like an ordinary person who had discovered an ATM machine that paid out money for free; returning time and time again without reproach or fear of getting caught.

The greedy politicians simply took money for luxuries from a system that almost encouraged the self-financing of MPs in light of their Salary freezes. All this and the people in charge of granting their expenses claims virtually turned a blind eye. I don't believe for a minute that many of the General Public who found themselves in a similar position as politicians with free range to a similar Expenses claim system would not also use it to top up their salaries. Although, the consequences of being found guilty of abusing the system would be far greater for a mere individual.

So the crime of abusing an expenses system whoever you are is wrong. Perhaps there is some justification for why MPs did it then? No. As mentioned earlier, the consequences of an ordinary person doing such a thing would be unimaginable. However, to witness the people that we entrusted to lead our country, spend money for underfloor piping of their tennis courts, Plasma TV's and church collection contributions is heinous. The fact is that the Politicians who sit in Westminster, Guilty or entirely innocent have lost the moral high ground. If their reputation was not bad enough, they have steeped to an all time low in public opinion.

Simply saying sorry does not go far enough and will not abate the anger that the public feels towards the institution that is supposed to set a better example. Once again, the expenses row has highlighted the case that our current batch of elected MPs are no better qualified to lead than anyone else with a vision to be a decision maker in the UK. What happened to Representation of our views, our hopes and concerns? An overhaul of our current procedure of selecting MPs is not too far away and then maybe the trust in our Parliamentary representatives will once again return.