Outgoing Scottish MEPs set for multi-million pound pay-off

EU Parliament in Brussels, Belgium (EPA/LAURENT DUBRULE)

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 European 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 months and a maximum of two years – to help them “resettle” after leaving office.

The new non-contributory pension offered as part of the package is also far more generous.

It pays MEPs 3.5% of their salary for every year they serve, which, if they complete a full five-year term, works out at £14,700 a year.

Since 2009, all newly-elected 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 Westminster-based 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.

The 751 MEPs who sit in the European Parliament enjoy pay and conditions most workers can only dream of. Their pre-tax salary is £6980 a month and they are also entitled to a £260-a-day “subsistence” allowance.

IAN HUDGHTON

PARTY: SNP
FROM: Forfar, Angus
AGE: 64
BACKGROUND: In 1996 SNP councillor Hughton, who used to run a decorating business, joined Angus Council as their first leader. Hudghton – who is married with a son and a daughter and used to be John Swinney’s election agent – became a MEP in 1999.

CURRENT SALARY: £74,000
APPROX PENSION: £33,000
GOLDEN GOODBYE: £28,740
EXPENSES CLAIMED: £126,561

DAVID MARTIN

PARTY: Labour
FROM: Edinburgh
AGE: 61
BACKGROUND: Won his first seat in the European Parliament in 1984, two years after becoming a councillor. The father-of-four, who has a degree in economics, is Scotland’s most senior MEP.
SALARY: £81,200
CURRENT SALARY: £83,800
APPROX Pension: £
GOLDEN GOODBYE: £166,700
EXPENSES CLAIMED: £91,523

IAN DUNCAN

PARTY: Conservatives
FROM: Perthshire
AGE: 43
BACKGROUND: Former BP policy man with a PhD in Palaeontology. He’s also worked with the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation and Scottish Refugee Council. Ian, who is openly gay, served seven years as the Head of the Scottish Parliament’s European Office in Brussels.

CURRENT SALARY: £83,800
APPROX Pension: £14,660
GOLDEN GOODBYE: £41,886
EXPENSES CLAIMED: £124,615
SALARY: £81,200

CATHERINE STIHLER

PARTY: Labour
FROM: Lanarkshire
AGE: 42
BACKGROUND: Won her seat in 1999, becoming the youngest British MEP in the European Parliament. The married mother-of-two and St Andrews uni graduate – who is now the rector – started her political career as a researcher for MP Anne Begg.
SALARY: £81

CURRENT SALARY: £83,800
APPROX Pension: £58,640
GOLDEN GOODBYE: £139,621
EXPENSES CLAIMED: £93,835
DAVID COBURN

PARTY: UKIP
FROM: Glasgow
AGE: 57
BACKGROUND: The former arts dealer and leader of UKIP in Scotland was first elected to Brussels in 2014 – on a ticket to get the UK out of the EU. Despite being homosexual, Coburn has opposed gay marriage in the past saying civil partnerships “should be enough”.

CURRENT SALARY: £83,800
APPROX Pension: £14,660
GOLDEN GOODBYE: £41,886
EXPENSES CLAIMED: £69,340
SALARY: £81,200
ALYN SMITH

PARTY: SNP
FROM: Glasgow
AGE: 42
BACKGROUND: Former London solicitor who taught English in India before moving to Brussels after being elected as a MEP in 2004. Now living in Edinburgh with his partner. Got a standing ovation after the EU referendum when he begged MEPs not to “let Scotland down”.

CURRENT SALARY: £74,000
APPROX Pension: £43,980
GOLDEN GOODBYE: £16,765
EXPENSES CLAIMED: £103,852

*Costs calculated for MEPs leaving office in 2019
*Exchange rate 1euro = £0.85
*All expenses cover 2015 except David Coburn’s which covers July 14 to June 15 and doesn’t include travel.

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