As everyone knows, the UK is set tp leave the EU this week. Here are a few facts and figures regarding this useless entity, and the freeloaders it supports.

How much do MEPs earn?

While Brexit negotiations continue, British MEPs will receive a salary.

Since 2009, all MEPs within the EU, regardless of the country they represent have received the same income.

Unlike UK MPs, this figure does not adjust according to the level of responsibility or change based on any additional chairing of committees or taking up of other special roles.

The figure is set at 38.5 percent of the basic salary of a judge at the European Court of Justice.

MEPs currently earn €8,757.70 (£7,599.14) a month, but it’s reduced to €6,824.85 (£5,919.37).

Do they pay tax or national insurance?

UK MEPs are required to pay national insurance contributions and the difference between EU and national tax to HMRC.

This means MEPS pay the same level of income tax and national insurance as people employed in the UK.

The final take-home pay will alter each month according to exchange rates and the strength of the pound month to month.

Salaries are paid monthly, which means if the UK does leave the European Union on October 31, MEPs will not receive any pay in November.

Do MEPs receive a pension?

Yes MEPs are entitled to receive a pension.

MEPs receive a pension worth 3.5 percent of their salary for every full year that an MEP works.

New MEPs elected this year will not be entitled to any pension as they have not worked for a full year.

In order to contribute to their pension pot, MEPs would need to remain in the European Parliament until at least June 2020.

Current and long-standing MEPs will be eligible for a pension worth 70 percent of their MEP salary – the maximum allowed under the rules.

Scottish politician David Martin is the UK’s longest serving MEP and is the second longest serving MEP in the whole European Parliament having become an MEP in 1984.

What other perks do MEPs get?

On top of their salary packages, MEPs get a flat rate of €320 each day they are present in Brussel or Strasbourg on official business.

This amount is intended to cover accommodation, meals and other “related costs”.

No evidence of this expenditure is needed as it is a lump-sum payment – but it’s only paid if MEPs sign an official register.

What will MEPs do after the UK leaves?

The European Parliament also has an end of service entitlement to allow “a transition allowance” for MEPs depending on how long they have been in the European Parliament.

The payment is equivalent to one month’s salary for every year they were in office – but the maximum payment is capped at two years.

However, to be eligible for any payment, an MEP must complete at least one full year of service.

Who pays for all of this?

The salary and other benefits paid to MEPS comes from the European Parliament’s budget.

The EU spends around €140 billion per year across all member states and is funded by three main sources: member state contributions based on a percentage of their Gross National Income, import duties on goods entering from outside the EU and a percentage of each Member State’s national VAT rate.

The UK historically pays more into the EU budget than it gets back.

In 2017, the UK government paid £13 billion into the EU budget, but EU spending on the UK was forecast to be just £4 billion.

This means the UK’s net contribution, which is the difference between the amount paid and received back, was estimated at nearly £9 billion.

Each year the UK gets a discount on its contributions to the EU—the ‘rebate’—worth about £5.6 billion last year.

Without it the UK would have been liable for £18.6 billion in contributions.

The EU currently has 751 MEP’s costing the taxpayer over 78 million Euro a year, plus 320 euro a day “expenses”.

(c) Express