Ben Habib, European Parliament's highest earner | Matthew Lewis/Getty Images Brexit Party heads list of top earners in European Parliament ‘In politics as in business, success breeds success,’ says Brexit Party MEP Robert Lowe.

Members of the European Parliament from the Brexit Party have the highest combined outside earnings compared to other delegations, according to data on financial declarations analysed by the NGO Transparency International.

According to its EU Integrity Watch report, Brexit Party MEPs collectively earned between €2,064,468 and €4,683,916 on top of their parliamentary salaries, well above the totals for other parliamentary groups.

With 29 MEPs, the Brexit Party is one of the largest party delegations in the European assembly, but their total outside income is the highest by far. To compare, the far-right Italian League's 28 MEPs declared combined earnings between €369,192 and €1,067,952 — less than a quarter of the Brexit Party delegation's earnings.

The Brexit Party's aim is for the U.K. to leave the EU on October 31 come what may, so its MEPs are not planning to be in their jobs for the full parliamentary term. In a statement, Brexit Party MEP Rupert Lowe said the high earnings are a sign of success.

"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," he said.

"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. In politics as in business, success breeds success," he added.



The highest-earning MEP, according to Transparency International's analysis of financial filings, is the Brexit Party's Ben Habib, who makes €80,000 monthly on top of his salary of €8,757 as a member of the legislature.

The second highest-earning member of the Parliament is former Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski, a member of the center-right European People's Party, who makes between €49,004 and €67,000 per month in addition to his MEP salary.

The Brexit Party's Ann Widdecombe makes between €20,004 and €40,000 a month on top of her salary, with approximately half of the extra income coming from her work as a columnist for the Daily Express and half from "speaking and broadcasting," according to her financial declaration form.

But contacted by POLITICO, Widdecombe's office said that the politician's financial declaration was updated on Wednesday to note that "the monthly income declared for speaking and broadcasting, prior to my election to the European Parliament, is an average figure which includes a short period during which I was paid one very large sum of money for an appearance on a reality TV show." She appeared on "Celebrity Big Brother" in 2018.

Other high-earning MEPs include liberal Belgian politician Guy Verhofstadt, for whom external income amounts to between €15,006 and €35,499 per month, and Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage, who makes an extra €30,000 as director of Thorn in the Side Ltd, a personal service company which deals with payments from his media appearances.

Some members of the European Parliament would like to see the practice of outside income significantly curtained.

"I don't think that should be allowed," said Green MEP Daniel Freund, who previously worked at Transparency International.

There is insufficient data on external income, Freund said, adding that there is a need for an "independent ethics body."

Nevertheless, the Green politician noted that there are some forms of external income that he deems acceptable for MEPs — like revenues from book sales — while others, such as paid speeches, he believes should not be permitted.

Outside income sources create a "very high risk of conflict of interest," he said.