A Day In Brussels

MEPs at work.

This is productivity in Brussels.

They get €8,000+ a month for their efforts.

They receive very generous expenses too.

€8,000+ a month

Working for the good of their countries

Yes they're paid €8,000+ a month.

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MEPs and Fiddling Expenses

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SNP MEPs to Publish Expenses Within Days

All parties were scrambling yesterday to prove their expenses were legitimate and those who hadn't yet published them were pledging to make them more transparent and open to public scrutiny.

SNP deputy leader Nicola Sturgeon pledged her party will follow Holyrood's example and back every claim with a receipt.  The party's manifesto commits its MEPs to publish a quarterly breakdown of all office, accommodation and travel costs and wants the same rules applied across the European Parliament.

SNP president and MEP Ian Hudghton said the new expenses regime would be online "within a day or two."  So Ian, you have until Thursday to have them online.  

How I wish my post was a little responsible for this welcome and more immediate action from the SNP but it wasn't of course.  However, thankfully the SNP have wakened up to the fact that these details must be available before the Euro elections, making this step one which can only work in their favour.

Update:  Thanks to Calum Cashley for providing the correct URL for Ian Hudghton's expenses:  

http://www.dundeesnp.org/IanHudghton_Jan-May09.pdf

Source:  The Herald

  

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Euro Elections - SNP Must Show Leadership

L to R:  Ian Hudghton, Catherine Stihler, Struan Stevenson

Euro MPs seeking re-election, are refusing to give details of their own expenses - despite the scandal rocking Westminster.  The SNP and Labour said they would publish details of their candidates' expenses only if they are elected on June 4.

With all hopefuls promising to clean up MEPs' expenses the Courier yesterday tried to discover how much taxpayer's money is being claimed by three candidates hoping to be returned to Brussels for another five-year-stint, Labour's Catherine Stihler, the SNP's Ian Hudghton and Tory Struan Stevenson.

However Mr Stevenson, who five years ago was caught signing in at the European Parliament and leaving straight away, was the only candidate prepared to expose details of his expenses to public scrutiny online.  His latest expenses show travel costs to Brussels and Strasbourg of €16,000 and his travel at home in Scotland another £6,486.  He claimed €16,000 for 56 days' attendance at a rate of about £250 a day on top of a salary of £68,000.

Ms Stihler has been very vocal about demanding greater transparency for MEPs' expenses but, although her website provides details of how many staff she employs, there are no details of her claims or the amounts she has received in expenses.

Mr Hudghton says he too will only publish details of his expenses after the Euro election on 4 June. "I am committed, as are all SNP candidates and MEPs, to publishing allowance claims and expenditure in the future and for the previous parliamentary term, to the same principles and high standard as the Holyrood parliament as soon as is practicable with the most recent six months a priority and I hope all Scotland's European candidates will agree to do the same."

Not nearly good enough Ms Stihler and Mr Hudghton, 'as soon as is practicable' is an opt-out and a weak excuse.  You all have staff who should have your accounts up to date, after all we pay for you and them. I want to see how much the present incumbents have spent before I place my cross, not after and it is my view that many will feel the same. 

To say I'm not pleased with the SNP's handling of the expenses debacle, both at Westminster and now Europe, is putting it mildly. They appear to be keeping their heads in the sand in the hope that the issue will eventually drift out of the headlines.  Let me assure Alex Salmond, the public now want to know how their money is being spent and it's up to you to show leadership and publish these accounts now - not after 4 June.  Even though Struan Stevenson was found to be cheating, now he's making his expenses transparent he'll receive far more votes than he deserves.

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Sign and Run German Style

Remember this when you vote in June.  No European country is better than another but a German journalist tries his best to expose Germany's MEPs who partake in the attendance scam.

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