European funding to benefit BNP
Updated on 09 June 2009
The British National Party (BNP) have won two seats in the European Parliament, unlocking the door to hundreds of thousands of pounds in funding.
Among the benefits for Nick Griffin and Andrew Brons will be a direct team of about six staff each, a "communications" budget, pension, medical insurance and a £80,000-a-year salary.
Channel 4 News online lists what being part of the European parliament means for the BNP’s bank balance.
Salary
From July 2009, all MEPs will receive the same salary, about £80,000-a-year.
Staff
European Parliament pays allowances totalling £175,800-a-year per British MEP towards the cost of employing staff. The usually translates into about six posts, with titles such as: office manager, political officer, constituency development officer, campaigns and communications officers, parliamentary assistant and researcher.
Pension
Members can get an old-age pension from the age of 63. The pension will be 3.5 per cent of the salary for each full year’s work, but not more than 70 per cent in total. MEPs pay £825-a-month to the fund and this is matched by a contribution from the European Parliament of twice that amount.
Travel
Members are refunded the cost of travel tickets for attending meetings, up to a maximum of a business class air fare, a first class rail fare or 40p per km by car. They can also be refunded up to £3,581 per year for other travel outside their own country undertaken as part of their work, and be reimbursed for up to 24 return journeys within their country.
Communications allowance
This is also known as budget line 4000. It can be used for “expenditure on political and information activities conducted by the parliamentary groups in connection with the European Union's political activities.” Although this amount varies on the size and compilation of the group with which the MEP is aligned, it means thousands of pounds can be spent domestically on political leaflets and adverts in publications. An average allowance is about £16,000-a-year.
Daily allowance
Parliament pays a flat-rate allowance of £257 for each day that MEPs attend on official business, as long as they sign an attendance register. This covers hotel bills, meals and all other expenses. For meetings outside the EU, the allowance is £129.
'General' allowance
This allowance is £3,626-a-month; for "office and management" costs.
Health
MEPs are entitled to a reimbursement of two-thirds of medical expenses incurred by themselves and their families.
Extra benefits
Life and accident insurance, medical insurance, payment towards language and computer tuition.
Party or group funding
This is dependent on which group the BNP members align themselves with in Europe, as the funding grows depending on the size and linguistic mix of the group. In total around 22m Euros were given to party groups in the past year. A group of 30 independent MEPs received about £517,832 Euros in six months.
