MEPs vote to keep expenses secret

What is it about MEPs and their expenses? Why is it so hard for them to trust the public to see what they spend our money on?

The Telegraph reported on Wednesday that both our Tory and Labour MEPs voted to keep their expenses secret, nobbling the legislation that would have forced the information into the open.

I think that criticism in relation to expenses is often misdirected. Expenses themselves form only a tiny fraction of the total spend of our governments (both British and EU), and are essential to good governance. As long as politicians use the money to improve their ability to do their job properly, I am happy.

The real issue with expenses, often overlooked, is what they represent. Expenses provide a window into the mind of a politician. They tell us what their priorities are, how concerned they are with value for money, how active they are at travelling, where they go, who they see and so on. Most importantly they tell us how seriously politicians take our money that they are spending. If we can't trust them to spend their expenses wisely and frugally, then we simply can't trust them to spend public money in other areas either.

When we see Conservative and Labour MEPs voting to hide this information from us entirely, the alarm bells should be ringing across the country. 

When asked at the UK launch whether Libertas MEPs would publish their expenses, Party Leader Robin Matthews categorically stated:

"As a former British soldier, my salary has been in the public domain for over 21 years and I think, given the amount of money that the EU wastes and spends on our behalf, I think it’s the least that the 500million citizens across Europe should expect."

If you want a new style of MEP representing you in Brussels, please support Libertas.

Thanks to a reader for pointing this story out.