European Communities (Amendment) (Hansard, 18 February 1981)

§ Mr. William Hamilton (Fife, Central)
I beg to move, That leave be given to bring in a Bill to amend the European Communities Act 1972, so as to provide that matters relating to the expenditure of the European Parliament shall be directly accountable to the Council of Ministers. This move is motivated by the widespread outrage inside and outside the House caused by the insensitive extravagance of the recent jaunt to Colombia, in South Africa—[HON. MEMBERS: "South America."]—of 36 Members of the European Parliament and their caravan of staff and interpreters numbering 67. They all travelled first class, and the estimated cost of the trip was £250,000. Six of the Members of the European Parliament were from the United Kingdom, five of whom were Conservatives and one of whom was Labour—Mr. Lomas—the well-known radical from London. They travelled return fare to Bogota from London at £1,600 per head.
That first-class travel was defended in moving terms by Dame Shelagh Roberts, a London Conservative, and by Mr. Chris Jackson, another Conservative Member of the European Parliament, who, in a letter to the Daily Telegraph dated 7 February, wrote that all criticism of that jaunting was Left-wing and "aimed at discrediting Europe."
In order to show my complete impartiality in these matters, I would point out that Lady Castle—I must give her her correct title—was due to embark on her own champagne trip to West Africa in a party of 60 European MPs, plus 100 staff. She claimed in a recent article in the New Standard that that trip would be of benefit to developing countries". However, a few days later that particular lady was for turning. According to The Sunday Times last Sunday, she said that the West Africa trip should be boycotted or that the £38 daily allowance should be reduced.
This very week, a further party of Members of the European Parliament have winged their champagne way to Australia and New Zealand for a fortnight in the sun, and another delegation is already in Japan.
It is difficult for a Member of this House to get at the facts and at the cost and reason for going on such jaunts. It is even harder to get at the Foreign Office in respect of 277 these matters. Several of us tried to table parliamentary questions, but the Foreign Office declined to accept any responsibilty for the matter.
I set the House of Commons Library staff to work. I say here that there are no more efficient, competent, able and dedicated members of the staff than our Library staff. It was no fault of theirs that they drew blanks on the questions that I put to them.
Some information, of course, is publicly available. In the total budget of the European Parliament for 1979 the expenditure was £74.6 million. In 1980, the appropriation was £119.8 million. In 1981, the appropriation is £125.5 million. In 1980, £3 million of the amount went towards secretarial expenses of political groups and other political activities, and expenses for contacts with other Parliaments outside the EEC. The comparable figure in 1981 will rise to £3.6 million.
When I asked for details about forthcoming jaunts I was told that no information was directly available from Luxembourg but that if I contacted a gentleman in South Wales he would give me the facts, on condition that I gave him the details of all the overseas visits of all delegations from this Parliament. I quote the letter that I received from the Library: Unfortunately they —that is, Luxembourg— cannot supply you directly with the information you require but I was informed that if you were to get in touch with Mr. Allan Rogers, MEP for South-East Wales, he may be able to help you. In return he would apparently like to have similar information on proposed overseas visits by UK Parliamentary delegations. I chose not to refer to the office boy but to go to the head of the European Parliament—the Secretary General, in Luxembourg. However, before doing so I sought to discover his salary. That was extremely difficult. I approached the Library, whose staff approached the Foreign Office, and the Foreign Office referred the Library to the European Office in London. The European Office passed the question to Luxembourg, and Luxembourg refused to answer it.
I therefore had recourse to a House of Commons written answer on 12 February 1979. It contained some information, but not the specific information that I wanted. According to that written answer, at column 442 of the Official Report, the highest grade of salaries in the European Parliament are the Al grades, which range from £42,173 to £52,529. That was two years ago. Taking into account inflation, the head of the European Parliament must be getting at least £60,000 a year plus perks, though we are not quite sure what those perks are.
Further facts may be of interest to the House. Before the direct elections, I was a member of that Assembly for three years.

§ Mr. Dennis Skinner (Bolsover)
On the gravy train.

§ Mr. Hamilton
On the gravy train, as my hon. Friend the Member for Bolsover (Mr. Skinner) rightly says. Some of his best friends were on it, too.

§ Mr. Skinner
I was not on it. I was always here.

§ Mr. Hamilton
As a consequence, I obtained access to the accounts of the Socialist group. I shall not say how I did so, but I want to give some of the information that was contained in those accounts. The Socialist group was the largest group in the Parliament, having 67 members 278 out of 198—about one-third. The funds for our activities out of the EP budget were to employ and pay our own staff and to cover other matters. The total assets of that group on 31 December 1975 amounted to 3,210,480 Belgian francs. Assuming an exchange rate at the time of about 65 Belgian francs to the pound, it represented about £50,000. In addition, the group had investments of about £70,000 and had a subsidy from the European Parliament of 7,600,000 Belgian francs, which is about £117,000. Now it will be much more, but I cannot find out what the figure is.
Then there is the Conservative group. The Conservatives are smooth, silent and glib operators, and are probably the most grasping. According to a report in the Daily Mail of 7 February 1981, that group received a subsidy from the European Parliament of £228,000 in 1981. It has a surplus of £200,000. Cash is coming out of its ears. The group does not know what to do with it. That is what its leader said, according to the article: Britain's Euro Tories will not be taking any action over their own generous budget of £228,000 for 1981, even though they are still £200,000 in surplus". Despite that surplus, their budget for this year is to be increased by 50 per cent. What do we intend to do about that? That, of course, is the purpose of the Bill. I see, Mr. Speaker, that you are getting impatient.

§ Mr. Speaker
I am sure that the House will be tolerant for another minute to hear what it is proposed we shall do. But the 10 minutes are up.

§ Mr. Hamilton
I carefully read the rule, Mr. Speaker, like you. A period of 10 minutes is not specified; there is reference only to a short speech. I promise that I shall fulfil that requirement.
I invite hon. Members to ask their own groups to make their accounts available to the House. The Foreign Office has a responsibility in connection with the EP budget, and it cannot shake off that responsibility. The overall parliamentary budget is a matter for the Council and the European Parliament. We are a member of the Council. In fact, we shall preside during the coming six months. Any member of the Council can question and challenge the European Parliamentary budget, although in the past, according to convention that has not been done. It should be done now. Whatever views are held by Members of this House, there must be some increase in the degree of our accountability.
I hope that we shall have a Division. If so, I hope that my proposition will receive massive support, as evidence of the distaste that the House feels for the gross extravagance that has been shown during the last two weeks. If there is no vote, it will be a measure of the unanimity of the House and its distaste of the extravagance of the European Assembly.

§ Mr. Speaker
The Question is, That the hon. Member have leave to bring in his Bill. As many of that opinion say "Aye". To the contrary "No". I think the—

§ Mr. Tony Marlow (Northampton, North)
I seek to oppose the Bill.

§ Mr. Speaker
I had already begun to put the Question.

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. The hon. Gentleman remained seated throughout.

§ Mr. Hugh Dykes (Harrow, East)
On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. It might be for the convenience of the House if you were to guide the House about how we should respond when an artificial Division is set in train and when those who wish to put in Tellers against are obviously in favour of the Bill.

§ Mr. Speaker
That is a very old custom of the House. If hon. Members wish to force a Division, it is amazing how they can find Tellers.

Division No.75]	[3.47 pm
AYES
Allaun, Frank	Grant, John (IslingtonC)
Alton, David	Grimond, Rt Hon J.
Archer, Rt Hon Peter	Hamilton, James(Bothwell)
Ashton, Joe	Hamilton, W.W. (C'tral Fife)
Atkinson, N.(H'gey,)	Hardy, Peter
Barnett, Rt Hon Joel (H'wd)	Harrison, Rt Hon Walter
Beaumont-Dark, Anthony	Hattersley, Rt Hon Roy
Beith, A. J.	Haynes, Frank
Boothroyd, MissBetty	Homewood, William
Brotherton, Michael	Hooley, Frank
Brown, R.C. (N'castle W)	Hughes, Mark (Durham)
Buchan, Norman	Hughes, Roy (Newport)
Callaghan, Jim (Midd't'n&P)	Jay, Rt Hon Douglas
Cant, R. B.	Jones, Barry (East Flint)
Carlisle, John (Luton West)	Jones, Dan (Burnley)
Carmichael, Neil	Kaufman, Rt Hon Gerald
Clark, Hon A. (Plym'th, S'n)	Kilfedder, James A.
Cocks, Rt Hon M. (B'stol S)	Kilroy-Silk, Robert
Colvin, Michael	Kinnock, Neil
Concannon, Rt Hon J. D.	Lambie, David
Cook, Robin F.	Lamborn,Harry
Craigen, J.M.	Lamond, James
Crowther, J.S.	Lestor, Miss Joan
Cryer, Bob	Lewis, Ron (Carlisle)
Cunliffe, Lawrence	Litherland, Robert
Cunningham, DrJ.(W'h'n)	Lofthouse, Geoffrey
Dalyell, Tam	Lyons, Edward (Bradf'dW)
Davies, Rt Hon Denzil (L'lli)	McGuire, Michael (Ince)
Davis,T. (B'ham, Stechf'd)	McKay, Allen(Penistone)
Dean, Joseph (Leeds West)	McNally, Thomas
Dixon, Donald	Marshall, DrEdmund (Goole)
Douglas, Dick	Maynard, MissJoan
Dubs, Alfred	Millan, Rt Hon Bruce
Duffy, A. E. P.	Mitchell, Austin(Grimsby)
Dunwoody, Hon Mrs G.	Moate, Roger
Durant, Tony	Molyneaux, James
Eadie, Alex	Morgan, Geraint
Eastham, Ken	Morris, Rt Hon A. (W'shawe)
Ellis, R. (NE D'bysh're)	Morris, Rt Hon C. (O'shaw)
English, Michael	Morton, George
Ennals, Rt Hon David	Moyle, Rt Hon Roland
Evans, loan (Aberdare)	Neubert, Michael
Evans, John (Newton)	Newens, Stanley
Ewing, Harry	O'Neill, Martin
Fletcher, Ted (Darlington)	Orme, Rt Hon Stanley
Forrester, John	Palmer, Arthur
Foulkes, George	Park, George
Fraser, J. (Lamb'th, N'w'd)	Parry, Robert
Garrett, John (NorwichS)	Pendry, Tom
George, Bruce	Penhaligon, David
Graham, Ted	Powell, Raymond (Ogmore)

Price, C. (Lewisham W)	Taylor, Teddy (S'end E)
Proctor, K. Harvey	Thomas, DrR.(Carmarthen)
Richardson, Jo	Thorne, Stan (Preston South)
Roberts, Gwilym(Cannock)	Tilley,John
Rooker, J.W.	Torney, Tom
Ross, Ernest (Dundee West)	Urwin, Rt Hon Tom
Ross, Stephen (Isle of Wight)	Varley, Rt Hon Eric G.
Sheerman, Barry	Wainwright, R. (ColneV)
Sheldon, Rt Hon R.	Weetch, Ken
Shepherd, Richard	Wigley, Dafydd
Short, Mrs Renée	Willey, RtHon Frederick
Skinner, Dennis	Wilson, William (C'try SE)
Smith,Cyril (Rochdale)	Winnick, David
Smith, Dudley	Winterton, Nicholas
Smith, Rt Hon J. (N Lanark)	Woodall, Alec
Spriggs, Leslie	Woolmer, Kenneth
Steel, Rt Hon David
Stoddart, David	Tellers for the Ayes:
Strang, Gavin	Mr. A. W. Stallard and
Taylor, Mrs Ann (Bolton W)	Mr. Norman Hogg
NOES
Nil
Tellers for the Noes:
Mr. Tony Marlow and
Mr. Michael Brown.