Maria Miller, Basingstoke MP has over-claimed on her expenses by more than £40,000.

Her punishment?

To give a 30 second apology, pay back less than £6000 of that amount and keep her job and her position as someone who is supposed to represent the people of Basingstoke.

With unemployment levels as a 17 year high in Basingstoke, we must question why our MP is allowed to get away with such criminal behaviour.

It is time Maria Miller stepped down.

More Information Avaliable here:

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/peteroborne/100266279/maria-miller-should-have-resigned-the-culture-of-greed-and-impunity-is-back-at-the-heart-of-british-politics/​

The report onto the cabinet minister Maria Miller is the first major expenses scandal on Mr Cameron’s watch. It was his big opportunity to demonstrate that his government is driven by values of honesty, decency and probity.

Mr Cameron has failed the test. There is no doubt at all that the Prime Minister should have insisted that Mrs Miller step down as a Cabinet minister. Instead he has thrown a protective ring around her.

This is terribly sad. A report from the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards found that the Culture Secretary over-claimed on her mortgage expenses by more than £40,000. A subsequent report by MPs says that Mrs Miller then repeatedly failed to cooperate with the investigation.

It is important to remember that in any other walk of life the culprit would have lost their job. Military officers would have been cashiered, civil servants would have been sacked, solicitors struck off- even city bankers would have found themselves on the pavement with a possessions in a black plastic bag and a reputation so tainted they could never work again.

Perhaps the most troubling comparison is the fate of benefit claimants, who would never have been allowed to get away with falsely claiming public money, then refusing to assist the authorities when an investigation was launched.

So the prime minister has made a public statement that there is one law for ministers and MPs – and one law for the everybody else." 

(Taken from The Telegraph Website 04/04/2014)