"The current annual salary for an MP is £65,738. In addition, MPs receive allowances to cover the costs of running an office and employing staff, having somewhere to live in London and in their constituency, and travelling between Parliament and their constituency." http://www.parliament.uk/about/mps-and-lords/members/pay-mps/ MPs love 'expenses' - moat cleaning, using your son's bf to add a housing expense in London when you don't need it, whatever. What they don't like are facing fussy auditors (won't let them claim a mortgage deduction when there's no second home, or no mortgage) or having stupid voters complaining about those expense claims (toilet seats, cat food, a new duck house, husband's pay-for-porn.) When faced with having to prove their expenses, MPs protested that they should be 'trusted;' a lot of them, when faced with auditing and public shame alone, paid it back. Many did not stand for re-election, and others were defeated. Then there was the argument that they could not be prosecuted because of immunity for acts committed as an MP...that didn't go over well. And some voters actually voted them out? Why complain about a reimbursement for a husband's porn films? How stupid of the British voters. David Chaytor, Eric Illsley, Jim Devine, Elliot Morley, Lord Taylor have already gone to jail for expense fraud, and it's becoming a large group. Lord Hanningfield said it's just a 'club', and everyone does it: Claimed £13,379 in parliamentary expenses for overnight stays in and travel to London when not in the capital. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2012175/Lord-Hanningfield-claims-11-500-despite-jailed-expenses-fraud.html#ixzz1S29Dpvqt Lord Hanningfield is still collecting his 11.5K councillor's allowance while he's serving his jail time. MPs can go to jail for fraud and keep their seats and salaries while they're in there. And MP couples can double claim their mortgages... US politicians are green with envy.