UKIP: Kent newspaper asks Nigel Farage is he value for money? He declines to answer!

Nigel Farage. On the EU Gravy Train and loving it!

This is Kent recently commented on Farage's failure to publish his allowances, plus the fact that he pays his wife. LINK. A clearly rattled Farage personally declined to comment on these awkward facts and got Annabelle Fuller - his mistress and 'assistant' - to claim that he had 'lost' the receipts. Yeah right! That's about convincing as Annabelle's story about that Moroccan taxi driver story! Link. You know you're in trouble when you have to resort to getting the disgraced and discredited Fuller to defend you! For more on Fuller: LINK

Ms Fuller: Friend of Morrocan taxi drivers, collector of Blackberry phones and a millstone around Farage's neck

It is intersting to note that This is Kent conducted a survey to see how many people recognised their MEP. Only three in a hundred could name Farage! We hear that Nigel was most upset upset upon hearing this revelation. So much for all those appearances on Question Time and the Daily Politics!

The Kent and Sussex Courier also contacted Farage and asked if he was value for money. He declined to answer. Says it all, really!

From This is Kent:

Are our MEPs worth £157k?

THEY were mistaken for Arthur Scargill, Richard Attenborough and Gillian McKeith, the peculiar woman from TV programme You Are What You Eat who made her name by analysing human waste.

Sadly, the truth was far less interesting. The Courier took to the streets of Tunbridge Wells last week to conduct a survey of 100 people to see whether they could identify their ten Members of European Parliament.

Only one person spotted Tory MEP and Daily Telegraph columnist Daniel Hannan.

Three others managed to guess UKIP's leader Nigel Farage.

But for the remaining 96 per cent of respondents, the closest they could get was a quizzical "are they councillors?"

For many, the European Union remains a mysterious monolith and, if our survey is anything to go by, its players are as obscure as ever.

Yet the basic salary for an MEP of e95,484 (£79,400) is considerably more than the basic salary of an MP in the House of Commons. They earn £65,700.

This is before the e303 they get for every day they attend the European Parliament – an average of 142 times a year for our MEPs.

They also take sizeable chunks of money to fund their offices and pay staff salaries.

Three of them – Richard Ashworth, Nirj Deva and Nigel Farage – admit to employing members of their own families.

It begs the question: what exactly do they do?

The Courier contacted all the South East's MEPs to ask precisely that.

The spokesman for Lib Dem Sharon Bowles described her role as "very extensive", claiming she takes just two weeks' holiday a year and works seven days a week.

He added: "She represents the residents of South East England in Parliament and answers their queries and helps them with problems that have some European aspect to them."

Mrs Bowles' Lib Dem colleague Catherine Bearder described herself as a "staunch supporter" of the EU, representing more than eight million people in an area stretching from Oxford down to East Sussex and Kent. London is not included.

She said: "I ensure environmental protection is at the heart of European policy, campaign on social justice issues – significantly human trafficking – and push the huge benefits of an economic union."

Keith Taylor is the region's only representative from the Green Party.

He explained while the Greens accepted that the EU needed to become more democratic and accountable, some decisions had to be made at a European level.

"Most of our environmental legislation comes from the EU and there's also EU legislation to protect consumer rights, animal welfare, human rights, health and people's working conditions," he said.

Labour's Peter Skinner said it was his job to represent the interests of his constituents.

He added: "A lot of work needs to be done to make people feel connected to what happens in Europe and why it's relevant to their day-to-day lives.

"However, as the single biggest market in the world, it is crucial to our exports and supports millions of jobs."

Tory spokesman John Furbisher said they had led the way in openness and transparency, volunteering to publish their allowances online.

"Our expenses and staffing costs reflect the fact we are obliged to work and run offices in three countries: Britain, Belgium and France," he added.

"Legislation passed in Brussels and Strasbourg has enormous impact on life and prosperity in Britain – and we are elected to bring a British Conservative influence to bear on that law-making and to represent our constituents."

Since the Lisbon Treaty, the European Parliament has increased its powers and now shares legislation implementation with the 27 EU commissioners and the Council of the European Union, which comprises ministers from each home nation's parliament.

But are they really worth all the money they are paid?

For the most part our MEPs evaded the question, except for Mrs Bearder who said: "Based on my workload, I feel the British taxpayer certainly gets value for money out of me as an MEP.

To read the original: LINK