The MEP Gravy train EXPOSED!

Here is an extract from the first pages of a book written by fellow Brexiteer MEP Daniel Hannan. It gives an eye opening account of his very first day as a new MEP in 1999 shortly after he was elected to the job. If you take it that MEPs pay has had several rises since this article was penned then the sums mentioned have obviously ballooned since he wrote this account. The titles of each allowance were added by myself to add clarity to what was going on here. A link to purchasing this incredible book titled WHY VOTE LEAVE by DANIEL HANNAN follows this extract.

TRAVEL ALLOWANCE
She went on to explain that when MEPs travel from their constituencies to one of the two parliamentary locations (the European Parliament meets, at vast expense, in both Brussels and Strasbourg), they are reimbursed on the basis of the priciest notional fare, plus an extra 'time and distance allowance'. Even if you really did travel at the top business class fare, you would make a tidy sum. But if you were prepared to fly EasyJet, you could trouser the better part of £800 pounds a week - tax-free, because it counted asexpenses rather than income.


GENERAL EXPENSES ALLOWANCE
The next desk belonged to the 'general expenses' official. He explained that we were entitled to nearly £3,500 a month as a bloc grant. 'What, you mean to rent an office with?' 'No, no, we give you offices in Brussels and in Strasbourg.' 'For computers and equipment, then?' 'No, you get that, too. It's for other incidental expenses like postage and petrol.' 'Seriously? Three-and-a-half grand a month?' 'As I say, sir, it's an unconditional grant. You don't have to submit receipts. You just nominate which bank account it goes into.'

STAFF WAGES ALLOWANCE
After him was the staff adviser. It turned out that we would get more than  £I2,000 a month to hire people. Which is, if you think about it, more than enough to take on a secretary, a researcher and a press officer, and still have a large dollop left over for your wife.

I wish I could say that the practice of hiring immediate family members was beneath British representatives, but the reality is that people respond to incentives regardless of nationality. If the kitchen is dirty enough, bacteria will breed, whether in Palermo or Pinner. If anything, the Brits were unusually keen on keeping things within the family. As a senior French MEP once put it to me: 'What is it about you English? You employ your wives and you sleep with our staff!'

An MEPs  CURRENT BASIC SALARY BEFORE a penny of THE ABOVE ALLOWANCES IS today set at £214,000 PA
 
 WHY VOTE LEAVE - BY DANIEL HANNAN MEP