Nigel Farage among Brexit-backers given £1,000 salary boost after EU vote

Lord Farage?: Nigel Farage may be in line for a peerage
Alex Lentati
Robin de Peyer6 November 2016
WEST END FINAL

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Brexit-backing British MEPs are taking home an extra £1,000 a month due to the plunging value of sterling since the vote to leave the EU.

Interim Ukip leader and high-profile Leave campaigner Nigel Farage is among those whose pay packet has been boosted by the exchange rate fluctuations.

MEPs are paid a salary of €8,213 a month. In May, that was worth £6,317 - but that figure has since swelled to £7,307.

Other prominent Leave campaigners who are employed as MEPs to sit in the EU's Parliament in Brussels include Tory Daniel Hannan and Ukip's Patrick O'Flynn.

Ukip's 22 MEPs will collectively take home the equivalent of about £250,000 a year thanks to the boost the Brexit vote and subsequent fall in sterling's value, the Sunday Times reported.

Liberal Democrat Tom Brake, who compiled the figures, said: "While the fall in sterling is hitting families through higher prices in shops, Farage and his Ukip colleagues are enjoying a Brexit bonus worth thousands of pounds.

“Ukip MEPs claimed that voting ‘leave’ would put them out of a job; it’s time they honoured that promise and resigned, instead of milking the taxpayer to the bitter end.”

A Ukip spokesman told the Sunday Times: "When the euro collapsed so did salaries. They spend most of their money in Brussels so what they can buy has remained the same.”

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