SIR – As OAPs hounded under PAYE, my wife and I are in favour of the latest plan by the Government to simplify the tax system, even though it involves the creation of yet another new quango, despite the Tories’ pledge to get rid of them.
However, in the case of the House of Lords the problem seems to be one of over-simplification, as its members will now get £300 a day tax-free expenses without means testing or anything else!
That many are already multi-millionaires, or others have substantial outside business interests, or enjoy ‘gold-plated’ public sector pensions seems lost on the Government, but what can any ordinary citizen expect when the Prime Minister David Cameron, his deputy and the Chancellor are all of the ‘Old Etonian’ millionaire class themselves?
Not that there will be any howls of protest from the Labour party. When ‘New’ Labour PM Tony Blair put more people in the Lords than any other leader in its history.
I believe this latest move shows beyond any doubt, that real reform of the upper chamber will never take place, either in this Parliament or any future one, as the vested interests of Labour, Conservative and LibDem politicians are too strong?
D S Boyes, Rodley Lane, Leeds
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