Expenses "scandal"

Here in the UK we are due a Euro MP election, and local council election, and if truth be told, we are about due a general election as well. After all, Gordon Brown was picked to succeed Tony Blair, there was no election, not even amongst the member of the labour party, as is usual when a leader steps down, but usually when a leader steps down they are in opposition, not in power.
A general election has to my knowledge been called at as short a time as 3 years, usually four, the maximum time between elections is meant to be five years I believe, and our current government is getting very close to the 5 year mark I believe. Ok, the usual trick is call an election when you know your party is strong, but if you wait too long, you don't have that luxury, perhaps the time spans should be set? I know this would be an unpopular move, but other countries do it.

Anyway, back to the title! The headline news here for the last few days has been the MP expenses. They are having to declare all the expenses they have claimed, these are then being scrutinised and if the expense is deemed unnecessary, or exorbitant they are being taken to task about it. For example for the last few days in the news there have been reports of MP for X having claimed £XYZ as expenses, one of the cheapest items claimed was £2.50 for a 4 finger KitKat from a hotel minibar! Excuse me, but the wages these people are on, surely they can buy their own snacks. Anyway, David Cameron, the leader of the opposition has told his members that undue expenses WILL NOT be tolerated. Following on from this there has been a mad scramble to pay back wrongly claimed expenses, from MPs of ALL parties, one MP continuing to claim against his second home....after the mortgage was paid off!
Now what I am going to say now might sound controversial...BUT......in any other walk of life, claiming payment for something that you shouldn't surely constitutes the breaking of a law. After all, if the MPs were claiming for these things, wrongly, and working for a run of the mill company, they would be charged with fraud. And if there is a general election, these people should not be seeking election, as they have proved that they can't be trusted.

I know this post is controversial, but....it is headline news here at the moment.