Out with this ridiculous,bumbling apparatchik... he is absolutely 'not fit for purpose'... what he has done is to morally if not legally abuse the MPs 'benefit system'... why can't he be interviewed under caution & prosecuted as is the case with us mere mortals if we are found guilty of benefit fraud?

What is good for the goose should be good for the fattened (illegally?) gander!

John Rellie, Bicester, UK

Can Politicians be so thick that they do not understand their own rules or guidelines or is it that they are just dishonest.

david reardon, nuneaton,

I cannot believe that the Speaker of the House of Commons could use public funds (which free air miles are) to subsidise his private life. As a former public servant I was always acutely aware of how I was spending public money, and so were my colleagues. Those in the Houses of Parliament have no credibility with myself until they apply the same rules of service which they expect of public servants to themselves.

Can we also ensure that ALL financial gains financed through public funds are returned to the public purse - and that includes capital gains on the second homes that we finance.

MPs etc have always known about their privileges and it seems that most have been taking us all for a ride for decades.

Time for:
(a) regular publication of all public servants' expenditure (MPs should publish this monthly in local newspapers)
(b) attendance and voting records of MPs and Lords members published monthly in local newspapers

Ted Smith, Preston, Lancs

That's it! I must persuade my husband to become an MP. Lots of free meal tickets, it seems and i would like some, i fear!

Annie, Cambridge, UK

Public funded travel should never result in air miles which are used for a private purpose.It has been proved that the only way to stop such abuses is to operate a government travel bureau which uses any so called free miles for future government authorised travel. This stops the type of reported misuse. It goes without saying that this is yet another sad example of morals going out of the window once these highly paid Public Servants are not independantly controlled. The Speaker,s Office is an Ancient and Honourable one,or has that also changed? If free Miles are taken out of the hands of the Government Servants,they could not use them for family use. IF-repeat IF such family air travel was considered correct and official, then let the applicant fill in the appropriate request to the Government department responsible for such travel, and then there would be no personal use or misuse off so called free miles. Do we have to put it so simply to such high level Public Servants?

GMacdonald, celle,

I thought that if air miles accrued whilst on business, are used by the individual, then they are a taxable benefit....

So HMRC should be looking at this....

Name Withheld, Manchester,

Um - why can't he use airmiles for personal trips? Any business trips are going to be paid for by the company (in this case, parliament) so otherewise airmiles would just go for nothing. Its extremely common for business people to accrue airmiles that are then used by their family - in fact, I don't know of anyone who doesn't do this! And as for 'transferring' miles, as suggested by Barbara - this is not possible on almost all air miless schemes. At the end of the day, this scheme doesn't cost 'the taxpayer' anything, so why is everyone so upset about it?!

Marianne, London,

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

Chris Dale, EDINBURGH, Scotland

I worked unpaid part-time for a cultural quango. I recall getting strict government rulings in the 90s that we must never use any air miles or other benefits accruing from official travel. (The rulers were of course made by well-paid ministers (Conservative) and civil servants.)

angusb, Edinburgh,

Fist of all I should like to know why he is allowed to claim Air Miles on fares paid for out of the public purse. Secondly why is this man allowed to continue in this high office when he is clearly not fit for the job, where previous speakers have been even handed and unbiased this man is partisan and seems to be ignorant of the rules that he is supposedly upholding. He must go before he opens Parliment to even more ridicule

FEF, Cheltenham, UK

If the Speaker has accrued 1million airmiles they should be used to offset his business travel or donated to a charity not used for his personal flights or those of his family.
We have to pay our way why should these people not do the same.

barbara, north east, england

Ah, that sweet smell of corruption . . .

A Perrott, London, UK

By its very nature the FCO has an enormous travel bill. When I was there, ALL travel arrangements were made by a travel department and ALL airmiles accrued to the department, helping to reduce the overall bills. Individual officers did not benefit from airmiles. As Bob Evans says this system should apply to parliament too. After all, these people are travelling at public expense and the public purse should benefit from any discounts or airmiles.

Joe 90, Erehwon, France

The Speaker is a disgrace to democracy. For example, he makes no effort to stop Brown asking questions of Cameron during PMQ, which is strictly forbidden. Indeed, despite being meant to be impartial, he was heard muttering congratulations to Brown after one answer. To put this man in charge of looking at MP's expenses would be a joke, were it not such an outrage.

Our once great parliament is now a laughing stock, and a pig's trough similar to Strasbourg. Little piggies, all troughing at the taxpayers expense, and we see nothing for it except deteriorating public services, and rocketing inflation. Labour must go, and I say that as a former Labour voter for more than 30 years. They have betrayed their supporters and they have betrayed the country.

Jeremy Poynton, Frome, England

They should be forced to use the budget airlines to prevent the temptation of abusing airmiles.

bob taylor, castelnau, France

I am heartily sick of reading about the theft of taxpayers money to line the family pockets of MPs. The airmiles, once sufficient, should be used by Martin to pay for a flight and save taxpayers money, not distibuted to his family for holidays. They do not belong to him. They belong to the taxpayer. (Mr Beckett of Holland please note)
Likewise the money we pay to MPs for working pads in London should not mean they profit when the property is sold. It does not belong to them if the taxpayer has funded the interest payments. The interest paid by the taxpayer should be used to calculate what percentage of the house, at the time of sale, belongs to the taxpayer and repayed.
MPS cannot be trusted with expenses. The whole issue of expenses/family member employment/travel should be taken away from them and run by a separate office after the pocket-lining rules have been cleaned up. There should be minimal personal gain to an MP from the perks of the job racket it currently is.

David Thijm, Stourbridge, UK

All these arrangements for travel and accomodation should be dealt with by a central bureau set up for that purpose- and not by the members themselves.

iain morse, edinburgh,

The speaker is morally wrong. Any benefits gained as a result of public expenditure on travel should clearly be used to reduce future travelling expenses thereby reducing the cost to the tax paper. The whole system of self control would never be allowed in the business world. I had to produce receipts for EVERY penny that i claimed and quite rightly so. If i am spending other peoples money then i should be expected to account for it. Parliament and in particular the European Parliament is fife with fraud and that is why for god knows how many years, the auditors have refused to sign off the accounts and nothing is ever done. No wonder every body is losing faith in those that govern us.

Ernest Ormes, Taunton, Somerset

Yet another case of do as I say, and not as I do. When are these people going to be properly investigated?

Neil, Gloucestershire, England

Wheest Mick! Ye've bin foond oot yet agin! Ye're another laddie canny with the bawbees - ye just cannae keep frae spendin that o' the taxpayers on yersel can ye?

Milo, Uckfield, UK

Yet more Labour sleaze. Add this to Martin's bumbling and incompetence and you wonder why he is still in the job?

paul turfery, Cork, Ireland

Rules and regulations - in the military we had a system of Standing Orders , break them at your peril. The evidence would be read as - An order that he should have been aware of, or reasonably expected to have been aware of. They were posted on all unit office walls, it was considered the duty of all to read them. I would be very surprised if the drafter of such orders claimed he was not aware.

William, Southampton, UK

Considering that airmiles programs usually have to be entered into freely and seperately, does it really cause a problem? Would it mean that if tiger tokens were still in effect, that mp's could not use them to get a crystal glass! Airmiles is a free program. Surely it is up to them how they spend airmiles! This country really is going mad!

Darren Beckett, Doetinchem, Netherlands

If the Speaker was truly unaware of the guidelines, that alone should be sufficient cause for his resignation.

Why does Parliament not have a travel office that can coordinate Members' travel, thereby obtaining the best rates and using the air miles to reduce costs?

Bob Evans, Anaheim, California

Why is it that a trip home for Mr Speaker is classed as a business trip in the first place? More too the point if airmiles are collected by each MP and government official who fly at the cost of the tax-payer, has the government not agreed a discount in general rather than allow the individual accumulation of airmiles, which is clearly open to abuse!

Les Corrin, Southport, England