Gorman: Stop the gravy train

Gorman Says Euro MPs Enjoy Life of Luxury

"MEPs should be forced to undergo the same degree of scrutiny as applies to us at Westminster, where every mile travelled and item of expenditure has to be accounted for," said Mrs Gorman, who is MP for Billericay in Essex.

"Everybody knows it is a gravy train in Europe, that they charge first class rail fares and travel second class, and that many of them claim expensive hotel bills while sleeping in their own offices overnight."

Mrs Gorman's attack coincides with an investigation by the European Ombudsman into allegations that some MEPs are fiddling their travel and subsistence allowances, which currently cost a total of £34 million a year.

Mrs Gorman said MEPs were enjoying a life of luxury that was beyond even the managing directors of big international companies: "They are also indulged with a fleet of limousines at their disposal, parked day and night outside the Brussels parliament, even to take them to lunch and back."

"Brussels is a small place and they should be made to walk, as we have to, or go by public transport."

Mrs Gorman called on the British Government to step in at once" "What is sauce for the British goose should be sauce for the Brussels gander too."