MEPs claim £70,000 per year in expenses


28 July 2005 11:44

Euro politicians from our region are more than doubling their £59,000 salaries with personal expenses.

As MEPs prepare to face the public scrutiny of having their expenses published for the first time we can reveal that those who represent Norfolk claim an average of £70,000 a year on top of their wages.

It is money they do not need, according to clean-up politics campaigner Martin Bell who said MEPs found themselves trapped in a culture of expenses.

Defending his expense account, MEP Jeffrey Titford, 72, from the UK Independence Party said: "I am not prepared to rough it at this time of my life."

The figures came to light after all seven of our region's MEPs were asked if they would reveal how much they claim — a figure they do not have to disclose.

Their personal expenses, on top of their £59,000 salary, averaged around £70,000 for 2004 and could reach six figures for this year.

This money goes towards travel and general expenditure and does not include around another £100,000 they all claim to pay for their own personal staff.

In total the European Parliament's 731 MEPs are expected to claim £209 million in expenses in 2005 (including staff costs).

That is up from £146 million in 2004, when the number of MEPs was only 500, and £119 million in 2003.

Norfolk is covered by seven MEPs who also cover Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire and Suffolk. They are: Geoffrey Van Orden, Conservative; Jeffrey Titford, UK Independence Party; Richard Howitt, Labour; Robert Sturdy, Conservative; Andrew Duff, Liberal Democrat; Christopher Beazley, Conservative; and Tom Wise, UK Independence Party.

The fullest response came from Cambridge-based Richard Howitt, who in 2004 claimed a total of £166,911 with £95,000 going towards secretarial staff costs.

He also claimed £20,221 for travel, £20,323 for subsistence expenses (money paid for attending official meetings) and £30,614 in General Expenditure Allowance (covering things like office costs, telephone and postal charges).

However, under a new regime, that is expected to be approved within the next few weeks, all their expenses claims will be published on the internet.

The move comes as the European Parliament is to change MEP's pay as it struggles to bring its costs in check after last year's elections brought in members from new EU countries in eastern Europe which have increased the budget for the parliament substantially.

The expenses system for MEPs was one of the main targets of Mr Bell's campaign when he stood as an independent candidate in East Anglia last year.

He described the existing system as "scandalous" and warned that it bred a culture of overclaiming.

He felt it would be much better when MEPs have to submit receipts for everything they claim.

He said: "There is a new system being introduced, and it cannot come in fast enough – the European parliament has bred a culture of claiming up to the limit all the time and I think most MEPs go along with that.

"It would be good to see an MEP making a virtue of the fact that they don't claim up to the limit."

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