Elected representatives must be judged by same standards that citizens who put them in office face

I REFER to the letter from Lyle Cubitt, ‘Failure to declare his holiday was wrong, but calls for Paisley’s head are hypocritical beyond belief ’ (Write Back, July 27).

While the letter contains items of fact and hypothesis, the comments about privacy I would consider dubious, since freedom of information was introduced in the UK in 2000.

However, my main concern with this letter is that it appears to justify the sleaze of any single elected representative by measuring it against the integrity practiced by the remainder of the elected representatives.

I fully accept that the integrity of many elected representatives appears to leave a lot to be desired. However, to measure moral standards against such benchmarks is the law of the jungle.

In this part of the world, we are experts at applying relative standards (they did it, so why should we not do it?) and we all live with the evidence of where this has taken — and continues to take — us.

To comment on some particulars of the case:

1. Something of this magnitude was not an ‘off-the-cuff ’ event — it had to be preplanned;

2. Sri Lanka is a poor country relative to the UK and borrowed money from the IMF in 2016 — an example of the rich taking from the poor;

3. Just imagine the magnitude of the sum of £100,000 (or even £50,000) to a person living in Sri Lanka. How many people would this feed, or employ, in Sri Lanka?; 4. How long would it take people in Ballymena to save circa £100,000 after tax for two holidays? Could you even imagine what a £100k holiday would consist of ?; 5. It seems to have been an act of selfishness — no one outside the family appears to have benefited;

6. If a politician has a need to represent a third party to Parliament, writing a letter, or speaking in the House, is part of their elected duties (for which MPs are handsomely rewarded). There is no justification for extra payment, other than reasonable out-of-pocket expenses, and; 7. The MPs’ expenses scandal surfaced in 2009, with many ongoing ramifications arising out of these revelations. How, then, could any MP not know to declare two significant benefits received in 2013?

In conclusion: all the citizens should be measured against the same standards. Different standards should not apply to elected representatives.

NAME AND ADDRESS WITH EDITOR