Two stories have just emerged that might persuade a few more people to attend the polling stations and put a cross in the UK Independence Party (UKIP) box tomorrow.
The first concerns the pay of European Union officials and the second is about Nick Clegg’s defence of benefit payments continuing to go to the family of Abu Hamza.
The Telegraph reports that more that one in five European Union officials takes home more pay than the UK Prime Minister. This is because of both the level of salary and the the favourable low tax that EU officials pay, which is about half the British rate.
It also seems that the EU “…has repeatedly refused to publish information of the net income of its 47,000 staff, making it impossible for taxpayers to know the true pay levels of European civil servants”. And there was me thinking that the ‘nothing to hide, nothing to fear’ concept that is used against the ordinary folk of Europe would also apply to the inner workings of the EU.
The Telegraph goes on to say say that “…in Brussels, even mid-ranking administrators can take home more cash than the Prime Minister.”
Well, I suppose the fact that with over 70% of UK laws now originating from the EU [1] it would eventually lead to the importance of our MPs, even the PM, being reflected in their pay packets when compared to their EU counterparts (masters)!
In the Express it is reported that, despite Abu Hamza being deported and probably spending the rest of his life in a US jail, his family will continue to live at the UK taxpayers’ expense in a property the Express says they cannot be evicted from. And the Daily Mail reports that Nick Clegg has rejected calls for these benefits to be cut.
Just more votes for Nigel Farage and UKIP.
[1]www.ukip.org/75_of_our_laws_are_made_by_eu_institutions_says_senior_european_commissioner_viviane_reding
