Tory MEPs vote themselves a major pay rise

Continuing the theme of salaries, expenses and pensions in the EU, Libertas today revealed the following new details. MEPs - including Labour and the Conservatives - have voted themselves a lucrative pay deal that kicks in AFTER the European election in June.  

Here are the details:

• A base salary of €7,665 per month (that's £82,000 per year, taxed at a special rate of only 15%)
• Daily allowance of €298, just for turning up (which works out at £1,300 per week)
• Secretarial expenses of €4,202 per month extra (£45,000 annually), although no proof is needed to claim the cash, on top of the £125,000 they already get.
• All business-class travel expenses on top of this.
• A gold-plated pension scheme, guaranteed by YOU, the taxpayer, to the tune of over €200 million.
  

Now I don't have a problem with our representatives being well paid. I do have a problem with them awarding themselves substantial pay bonuses a) during a recession and b) when they are doing a poor job of sorting the EU out. 

I also don't see why MEPs need to travel in business class. This must add a vast amount to the travel expenses and only serves to fluff their egos; hardly something we need. Isn't it time that our MEPs were reminded that they are supposed to be servants of the people?

For the political geeks out there, here are how our esteemed Tory MEPs voted on the new pay scheme:

Voted For:

Richard Ashworth MEP

Rt Hon Sir Robert Atkins MEP

Christopher Beazley MEP

John Bowis OBE MEP

Philip Bradbourn OBE DMA MEP

Philip Bushill-Matthews MEP

Martin Callanan MEP

James Elles MEP

Malcolm Harbour MEP

Chris Heaton-Harris MEP

Roger Helmer MEP

Dr Caroline Jackson MEP

Mr Sajjad Karim MEP

Timothy Kirkhope MEP

Edward McMillan-Scott MEP

Neil Parish MEP

David Sumberg MEP

Against:

Giles Chichester MEP

John Purvis CBE MEP

Robert Sturdy MEP

Abstension

Nirj Deva DL FRSA MEP

Struan Stevenson MEP

Dr Charles Tannock MEP

Not Participating

Daniel Hannan MEP

Jonathan Evans MEP

Syed Kamall MEP

Geoffrey Van Orden MBE MEP