EURO MPS £3M BREXIT BONANZA
Anger as politicians set to cash in
SCOTLAND’S Euro MPs will pocket up to £3.3 million between them when they are booted out of their jobs.
They will walk away with hefty “golden goodbyes” and taxpayer-funded pension deals most workers can only dream of.
One MEP, David Martin, is expected to get a £167,500 pay-off to help him “resettle” despite also being eligible to draw a pension worth up to £112,000 a year.
MEPS facing life on the Brussels scrapheap are in line to pocket “golden goodbyes” of up to £168,000 and pensions worth as much as £114,000 a year.
All six of Scotland’s Euro politicians – David Martin, Catherine Stihler, Ian Hudghton, Alyn Smith, Ian Duncan and David Coburn – will lose their jobs after the country voted for Brexit last month.
And if Article 50, which triggers a two-year countdown for the UK to leave the EU, is invoked this year, each one of them will be out of work by the time the next European elections come around in 2019.
As recompense, the six MEPs will be eligible for taxpayer-funded severance payoffs – unless the remaining member countries rip up their contracts.
But the size and scale of these payouts, and the pensions they receive, will depend hugely on whether they signed up to a new pay and conditions package in 2009.
A Sunday Post probe has pinpointed what these will amount to.
Our investigation has discovered that, in the case of one MEP, £167,500 will be dished out to help him “resettle”, even though he will also be eligble to draw on a pension potentially worth as much as £114,000 a year.
To buy a guaranteed retirement income of that size the average man on the street not in a final-salary scheme would need to have saved a pension pot worth more than £1.7 million.
The revelation has angered critics, who argue it is typical of the largesse that persuaded 17 million people to vote to leave the EU in the referendum.
Harry Davies, of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “Anyone leaving their post will incur costs but officials have a duty to keep expenditure to a minimum. These golden goodbyes are unacceptable and Scottish taxpayers may be relieved that they are no longer on the hook for any more EU largesse.”
Until 2009, MEPs received the same pay, pension and perks as MPs in their own countries.
However, a new system – created under a “members statute” – was introduced as part of reforms designed to give equal pay to politicians from different member states.
Under this scheme wages are paid in euros, at 38.5% of the pay of a European judge. That means our MEPs earn around £83,800 a year.
It also entitles departing MEPs to a transitional allowance – a month’s salary for every year worked, with a minimum of six
monthsyears leavingis also The offered– newfarto office.and help more non-contributoryas a thempart generous. maximumof “resettle”the packageof pension aftertwo
for theyIt everypays completeMEPsyear they 3.5%a serve,fullof their five-yearwhich, salaryif term, Since works 2009, out all at newly-elected£14,700 a year. MEPs have been enrolled into this scheme.
But those seeking re-election in 2009 were given the choice of whether to sign up or to remain in the less lucrative Westminsterbased pay and pension system.
Labour’s David Martin and Catherine Stihler opted to join the new scheme. It means both they – and Tory Ian Duncan and UKIP’s David Coburn, who were elected in 2014 – will be in line for hefty golden goodbyes when Brexit officially takes effect.
They will also qualify for guaranteed pensions, which they can draw on from the age of 63.
Mr Martin, who turns 63 next year, is also a member of the European Parliament’s additional voluntary pension scheme, which was created in 1993 but closed to new applicants in 2009.
That means he is likely to receive tens of thousands of pounds above and beyond his first pension.
All in all, he could potentially walk away with a golden goodbye of £167,500 and a combined annual pension of £112,000 a year.
The pension will be made up of £29,300 from his main EU pot, up to £42,000 from his Westminster pension, which is worth around £8500 a year for every five years spent in office, and up to £42,600 from the voluntary scheme.
In stark contrast, the average annual income of a British pensioner last year was £21,000.
The two remaining MEPs in Scotland, the SNP’s Ian Hudghton and Alyn Smith, opted to stay in the old pay and conditions scheme on a point of principle.
As a consequence they will receive the same “loss of office” payments – equal to double the UK’s statutory redundancy entitlement – given to Westminster MPs.
The largest golden goodbye they can receive under this system is £28,740.
The two SNP MEPs will also qualify for far smaller pensions once they reach retirement age.
According to our calculations, if all six of Scotland’s MEPs live until 76.5 – the age at which the average person in this country dies – they can expect to bank a collective £3.3m in pension and severance pay and benefits.