The Chancellor George Osborne is to announce at the budget next month a new levy on the so called "non-domes"so that he can rake in millions more in taxes. That sounds wonderful to the average hard pressed citizens, but its rubbish when we consider that some of our most senior cabinet ministers are setting up "Blind Trusts," preventing scrutiny of their investments. Amongst the so called great and the good are Francis Maude the Cabinet Office Minister,Chris Huhne, the Climate Change Secretary. Kenneth Clarke, the Justice Minister, Andrew Mitchell, the International Development Secretary, Cheryl Gillan the Welsh Secretary, and Owen Paterson, the Northern Ireland Secretary. There are at least another eight ministers who have set up blind trusts. Business Secretary Lord Mandelson has also set one up. Minsters argue that these blind trusts allow them to keep their shareholdings at arms length preventing them from seeing what they have invested in. However it also keeps details of their financial interests secret. The truth is its a cynical way to avoid paying tax on their wealth, and stops the public from knowing what they are avoiding paying,whilst the rest of the population struggles to make ends meet. But its not just these ministers with their sticky fingers in the pie. We have a private health care firm with connections to Andrew Lansley the Health Minister that has won a £53 million prison hospital contract, even though the NHS beat "Care UK", on quality,delivery and risk, the only thing they lost on was the cost. Care UK is believed to have been charging £4 million less than the NHS. All well and good you may say except, that John Nash and his wife who own Care UK, made donations totalling £203,500 before the general election to the party and would be MP's including £21,000 to Health Secretary Andrew Lansley's office. They have gone for cut price services. Tory ministers breaking up the NHS are in the pockets of private health care. With less money spent and with huge profits and salaries and bonuses to be paid out of the contract, it is inevitable that standards will have to fall, treatment will be worse, and large numbers of nurses will loose their jobs. But the fat cats get fatter and so will ministers who will find jobs in these organisations when their time is up in Westminster.Corruption is it would seem rife at the top. Al Capone would be proud of them.
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