Steve Beasant

UKIP leader Nigel Farage has been accused of gross hypocrisy by Liberal Democrat MEP for North East England Fiona Hall after figures showed his party’s MEPs are among the laziest in Europe.

Independent transparency watchdog VoteWatch figures show UKIP MEPs offer among the worst value for money of all 753 MEPs. Nigel Farage himself was rated 704th in terms of attendance.

Fiona Hall, who is leader of the Lib Dems in the European Parliament, said:

“If Nigel Farage thinks the North East will ever elect someone who wants to cash their cheques and do nothing to help the region, he’s in for a big shock.

“This independent research highlights the audacious hypocrisy at the heart of heart of UKIP. How can you have any credibility as a critic of waste if you provide among the worst value for money of any MEP in Parliament?

“Politicians collecting hundreds of thousands of pounds in expenses and salary and not even bothering to show up is pretty disgraceful.

“It’s time Mr Farage and his party took a long hard look in the mirror. Their hypocrisy is mind-blowing.”

The Votewatch statistics can be found here: http://www.votewatch.eu/en/activity-statistics.html