Snout in the Trough Alert - Mike Rumbles

I see my esteemed Lib Dem MSP Mike Rumbles has been using the vagaries of the publicly funded Edinburgh accommodation allowance (EAA), which helps MSPs to buy property in Edinburgh, to race up the property ladder purchasing three flats in eight years. He is the first MSP to achieve three Mortgages in this particular trough.

Not bad that and according to the Scotsman:

Mr Rumbles sold two properties and reinvested in larger ones with help from the public fund, eventually making a £40,000 profit. He now owns a £300,000 flat in an exclusive district of the capital, and claimed about £10,000 a year to help pay off his mortgage.

They go on to report

Yesterday, Mr Rumbles defended his use of the allowance.

He said: "I have bought three flats in Edinburgh. I made a loss on the sale of the first flat. And on the sale of the second flat I paid a capital-gains tax of 40 per cent.

So now he's complaining he had to pay Capital Gains Tax on money he got from us the taxpayers, what a bloody cheek.

One can only hope that he will soon be joining the ranks of the unemployed, rather than the underemployed at Holyrood.

This is not the first time some of the Lib Dems have been found out for using this particular trough

The Scotsman - Taxpayer subsidies help Lib Dem to buy three flats in capital

Holyrood - Jibe earns lawyer rebuke

I made a promise to myself yesterday I wasn't going to do Holyrood blogs anymore but this one is a beezer.

According to the Scotsman:

A SENIOR lawyer to the Holyrood inquiry has been disciplined by the Faculty of Advocates over a remark about a civil servant involved in the project.

John Campbell, QC, was found to have breached the faculty's code of conduct after giving a speech in 2004 which referred to Barbara Doig, the Holyrood project sponsor, as a "librarian".

Mrs Doig lodged a formal complaint with the faculty about what she believed to be disparaging remarks about her. Yesterday, the faculty confirmed it had ordered Mr Campbell not to make any more comments on the case.

Well isn't that terrible after managing (or not) to waste more than 400 million of our money she doesn't want to be called a "Librarian". A very restrained tag in my humble opinion. On the Dole would be a more suitable job.

Perhaps we could seek compensation from her for wasting our money.

Some more details on Mrs Doig:

Barbara Doig was the project sponsor of the Holyrood building during the formative years of the project, taking over in March 1998. She was at the centre of the decision to reinstate Bovis Lend Lease to the shortlist to manage the project. Bovis went on to win the contract.

She was publicly criticised for her role in the project by Lord Fraser.

Mrs Doig returned to the Executive's research department before retiring early at the age of 58 two years ago on a good final-salary, civil service pension.

One comment from JayJay in Glasgow on the story says it all.

Mrs Doig could have perhaps explained, in mitigation, her extensive experience in managing large scale building projects.
Since she presumably had zero skills to offer in the construction sector, and is presumably a Civil servant of some sort, I think it would be fair comment to liken her to a librarian. She's certainly closer to that than to a construction professional!

The Scotsman - Jibe earns lawyer rebuke

£16 million saved on Holyrood!

Apparently, as well as being pig ugly, the final bill for Holyrood will be 414 million pounds, but lucky us they have managed to save 16 million on the final total.

Not bad considering the initial estimates from this inept parliament were between 10 and 40 million pounds. So they have managed to save what it should have cost, what an achievement. Best of luck in governing this Country.

Here's a masterful understatement from the Presiding Officer George Reid:

"The Holyrood saga has been a long haul, it's been wearing, it has also been damaging, in my view, to Scottish self-confidence in our ability to run our own affairs. And that is why I use the word 'closure' today in its full double meaning."

Reading a little further it is revealed that

No-one responsible for the rise from the first estimate of between £10 million and £40 million to the eventual total lost their job.

If this had been anywhere in private industry the people responsible would have been sent on there way without thinking, but when you and I are paying nobody takes responsibility.


Just as a final note it's interesting to note that the total VAT payable to Mr Brown was in excess of the 40 million top estimate.

Holyrood seeks 'closure' over its £414 million fiasco

MSPs' expenses soar by twice rate of inflation to £9.8m

I see the pigs trough that is Holyrood managed to increase expenses for MSP's by double the rate of inflation despite the following warning last year from Tom McCabe, the finance minister:

"We do not want to consume any more precious resources or employ any more staff than necessary. We will be looking at cutting duplication and bureaucracy to ensure we have more efficient and effective public services."

Obviously these words were taken to heart by our wonderfully useful MSP's.


The Scotsman - MSPs' expenses soar by twice rate of inflation to £9.8m

Follyrood parliament building

I blogged a few times last year on the 450 million waste of money that is Folyrood, so I thought I would have a look at the Scotsman to see how it was all going just now.

Apart from the usual problems with windows, stairways, gates, roofs etc etc, all is wonderful. It now costs 73 million and rising of our money a year to get all the snouts fed here.

Anyway the Scotsman now has 74, yes 74 pages of articles on the Holyrood building and its problems.


Scotsman.com News - Holyrood parliament building