Monday 16 February 2015

"Chuku Umunna recommends getting receipts for all cash-in-hand jobs"

From The Daily Mail:

Getting a receipt for all cash paid to politicians and political parties is a 'matter of good housekeeping' and was a 'good thing to do', Labour's Chuka Umunna advised business leaders this morning.

The shadow business secretary's remarks came after Ed Balls sparked controversy yesterday after calling for business and other lobby groups to document how much they pay every time they want to get the law tweaked in their favour.

Mr Balls said that too many businessmen made generous donations to political parties but were later disappointed when the promised tax break or subsidy failed to make it onto the statute books. Keeping receipts would enable them to demand a refund.

Mr Umunna added that two many MPs were given paid under vaguely worded contracts for 'consultancy' or 'advisory services' because their employers were often hesitant about putting into writing what they were actually paying for.

"It's a fine line," admitted the rising Labour star, "Agreeing to protect the existing bookmakers' cartel is a no-no, of course, so in that case, the contract would see an MP agreeing to 'help to protect the vulnerable by limiting the amount of betting shops on the high street'. Rope in a fakecharity to front the operation and bingo!

"That's just an example, of course," he added hastily.

2 comments:

Ian B said...

That's a hand-job you've paid for, right?

Mark Wadsworth said...

IB, fair point. I've removed a hyphen.