LETTER: Peers get away with cheating tax-payers

Because she failed to inform the benefits agency of a change in her circumstances, a Nelson woman is accused of cheating the taxpayer of £3,500 and is facing a jail sentence.

Now think about this. A member of the House of Lords claims some of his fellow peers pocket £300 a day attendance allowance, but only stay in the House of Lords long enough to sign the register, or enjoy cordon bleu cuisine and fine wines in the taxpayer-subsidised restaurant.

I reckon it will take just one of those peers only 12 days to cheat the taxpayer of the same amount as that of the Nelson woman - the difference being that unlike her, he or she will get off scot-free.

As I said at the beginning, it really is a funny old world!

D. WALKER

Barrowford