Farage U-turn on expense audit

[speling bee]

I wonder what he's hiding.

Nigel Farage changes position on audit of his MEP allowance spending | Politics | theguardian.com

[SaltyLevels]

Spelling please:

Allowance, not expense. There's a remarkable difference. I have a letter from HMRC saying I can claim an allowance of £35 a day for food and associate costs if I stay away. I get that even if I don't spend it all. I am allowed to expense up to £25 a day from my client. So if I only spend £15, I can only claim £15.

So if I am getting an allowance for 10k a year from my client, I can claim all 10k, even if I don't use it.

You can see there's a difference, no?

[darmstadt]

Mind you, he could do what many other MEPs do in the interests of transparency and then maybe the press would drop this bollocks:

MEP Allowances - Alyn Smith

Keith Taylor MEP » Expenses & Allowances

Jean Lambert MEP pay and expenses

But I don't see anything on his website:

Nigel Farage MEP :: Sitemap

[doodab]

He is the bloke in the back of the limo on their campaign poster. That was always going to backfire that one.

[SaltyLevels]

I kind of like the fact he hates europe and is milking it. It's almost as though the piss take is ironic.

'Look, the EU is so stupid, they pay for me for stuff I don't have to buy/use'. It's an angle for him, surely....

[speling bee]

I kind of like the fact he hates europe and is milking it. It's almost as though the piss take is ironic.

'Look, the EU is so stupid, they pay for me for stuff I don't have to buy/use'. It's an angle for him, surely....

In which case he would be delighted to have an audit to prove his point.

[SaltyLevels]

In which case he would be delighted to have an audit to prove his point.

Doesn't need to though, it's an allowance.

Fair play to him milking it as far as I am concerned, it merely underlines the farce that is the overbloated EU set up.

[darmstadt]

Mind you, as for employing his wife:

In general, MEPs can no longer have close relatives among their staff, though there is a transitional period for those who were employed in the previous term.

And how often does he attend sittings:

The allowance is halved in the case of Members who, without due justification, do not attend half the number of plenary sittings in one parliamentary year (September to August).

Travel isn't an allowance but expensed although there is an annual travel allowance but:

Reimbursement is made on the basis of the actual air fare or rail fare on presentation of the relevant travel vouchers and the requisite supporting documents.

There is a daily allowance but:

Parliament pays a flat-rate allowance of €304 to cover accomodation and related cost for each day that MEPs are present on official business, provided that they sign a register to attest their presence. The allowance covers hotel bills, meals and all other expenses involved. The allowance is reduced by half if MEPs miss more than half the roll-call votes on days when plenary votes are held, even if they are present.

For meetings outside the EU, the allowance is €152 (again subject to signing a register) with hotel bills refunded separately

So although some isn't actually checked, they still have to show proof in many cases.

[Flashman]

The closing date has been and gone but who knows Darmstadt/Petergriffen/SpelingBee/Mos might be able to squeeze in at the last minute.


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[xoggoth]

The closing date has been and gone but who knows Darmstadt/Petergriffen/SpelingBee/Mos might be able to squeeze in at the last minute

I am all in favour of them applying. I think they have boosted UKIP popularity on CUK by several points in the last few weeks.