Show caption Ann Widdecombe (right) was at number three in the earnings charts, ahead of seventh-placed Nigel Farage (left). Photograph: Vincent Kessler/Reuters Brexit party Brexit party MEPs are EU’s biggest earners in second jobs, study finds Five of party’s members make top 10, as researchers raise conflict of interest concerns Jennifer Rankin Thu 26 Sep 2019 15.23 BST Share on Facebook

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Brexit party members earn more from second jobs than any other group in the European parliament, according to transparency campaigners who are warning about potential conflicts of interest.

An annual study by Transparency International showed that Nigel Farage is no longer the best-paid British MEP by second job. Now in seventh place among the 227 MEPs with outside earnings, Farage earns about €360,000 (£319,000) a year from his media company, Thorn in the Side.

The Brexit party’s London member Ben Habib is the EU’s best-paid MEP. Elected in May, Habib declared €960,000 annual earnings from First Property Group, the property fund manager he founded.

Three other Brexit party MEPs make the top 10 ahead of Farage. At No 3 is Ann Widdecombe, who declared a second income of €240,000-€480,000 a year. The former Tory minister and reality TV contestant makes between €5,000 and €10,000 a month writing her Daily Express column, with a further €20,000 a month coming in from speaking and broadcasting.

The Brexit party chairman, Richard Tice, has annual earnings of between €264,000 and €360,000 from his business interests.

In 12th place is the Conservative Brexit evangelist Daniel Hannan, who is paid at least €5,000 a month to advise the machinery manufacturer JCB. Chaired by the Brexit-supporting Lord Bamford, JCB paid Boris Johnson £10,000 in January and has also had the former Brexit secretary David Davis on the payroll.

Another prominent name in the top 10 is the European parliament’s Brexit coordinator, Guy Verhofstadt, who earns between €180,000 and €426,000 for sitting on company boards and giving speeches.

All the outside earnings figures cited were before tax. Transparency International said the Brexit party contingent were “the top earners by a long way”, with its 28 MEPs earning a total of between €2m and €4.7m on top of their monthly MEP salaries of €6,825 after tax.

The exact figures are unknown, as MEPs are only required to declare outside earnings in approximate amounts. The study reports MEPs annual earnings, but if Brexit goes ahead on 31 October, British MEPs would have sat for only four months of the current five-year term.

About a third of the parliament’s 748 sitting MEPs declared income from second jobs.

Ben Habib is the highest-earning MEP in the EU from a second job. Photograph: Oli Scarff/AFP/Getty Images

“Based on some of the details, including in some of the declarations of the Brexit party, it is impossible to judge what some of these companies are engaged in and therefore the exercise of determining if there is a potential conflict of interest is impossible to undertake,” said Nick Aiossa of Transparency International’s Brussels office. “Particularly with the sums of money involved with the Brexit party.”

The group argues that the current system is too lax, fears fuelled by revelations that Farage failed to declare lavish funding from the Brexit tycoon Arron Banks.

Aiossa said that MEPs breaking the European parliament’s code of conduct in previous years had never faced sanctions. “There is simply no deterrent for MEPs to take this exercise seriously,” he said. “Until there is a sanctions regime that accompanies an ethics reform … we will continue to see declarations that are misleading, incomplete or fail to record [important details].”

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The Brexit party did not respond directly to questions about a potential conflict of interest, but issued a statement from the West Midlands MEP Rupert Lowe, who has the fourth-highest income from a second job. He earns between €204,000 and €444,000 from companies including a business running cancer treatment centres and another involved in solar energy.

“Isn’t it wonderful that Brexit party MEPs earn more money than arch-federalist Guy Verhofstadt, and get a lot more votes than him as well,” said Lowe, who is one place ahead of the Belgian MEP.

“Many Brexit party MEPs are successful in the work that they do, the decisions they make, and the earnings list reflects that fact. It’s important that voters who wish to attain the goal of leaving the EU have capable, experienced people to represent them to the best of their ability.”