Yahoo News Article 50: 'Brexit does not mean Brexit' – who are the peers with EU pensions likely to frustrate Brexit and what have they said about it?
More than 20 peers who are expected to force changes to the Brexit Bill this week are still earning tens of thousands of pounds from Brussels.
Lord Mandelson, Labour’s former communications director, Lord Kinnock, the party’s former leader, and Lord Patten, who served in Margaret Thatcher's cabinet, all receive EU pensions.
Many other former MEPs and European commissioners are also receiving payouts from a Brussels pension pot estimated to be worth £10 million.
The peers are facing demands to reveal their “financial interest” before speaking on Brexit legislation this week or face the “outrage” of the public.
Dominic Raab, a former justice minister, said: “Lords with generous EU pension pots should be open with the British people and declare this when they speak in Parliament on Brexit.
“It’s time the Lords came clean about their EU money and recognise the decision of the people by backing the Article 50 Bill unamended.”
Pro-EU peers and their Brussels pensions
Lord Mandelson
European Commissioner from November 2004 to October 2008
Estimated value of EU pension: £34,659 a year
He has said:
"Brexit was not the result I wanted. I feel torn between head and heart. In my head, I respect the decision to leave the EU. There are many people who voted to leave who wonder about the terms on which this is going to happen, who want to have their voice heard again".
Lord Kinnock
European Commissioner from July 1995 to November 2004, Vice-President of the European Commission from September 1999 to November 2004
Estimated value of EU pension: £87,794 a year
Speaking after the referendum result he said:
"The whole bloody thing is appalling. The referendum was won by falsehood and prejudice."
Lord Patten of Barnes
European Commissioner from January 2000 to November 2004
Estimated value of EU pension: £39,845 a year
He has said:
"The vote to leave the EU was a vote to turn Britain's back on the 21st century."
Lord Inglewood
MEP from 1989 to 1994, and from 1999 to 2004
Estimated value of EU pension: £11,500 a year
He has said:
"I strongly believe that one should be able to go to Victoria station and get a ticket to anywhere one likes in Europe."
Baroness Ludford
MEP for 15 years from 1999 to 2014
Estimated value of EU pension: £21,100 a year
Speaking in 2011 on joining the euro:
"The idea in principle has its advantages. We are keeping it under review."
Lord Balfe
MEP from 1974 to 2004
Estimated value of EU pension: £28,742 a year
Speaking after the referendum he said:
"This whole issue has sent a shiver down the spines of servants of all our international institutions."
Lord Hill of Oareford
David Cameron's final EU Commissioner – he quit in protest at the referendum result.
Commissioners are entitled to a 'transitional allowance' of around 40 per cent of their basic £ 200,000 salary , which lasts for three years after they leave.
Described as a "true European" by European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker.
Baroness Crawley
MEP for 15 years until 1999
Estimated value of EU pension: £14,100 a year
She has said:
"The best option for the UK's future relationship with the EU is to revisit the whole decision with a second referendum."
Baroness Hooper
MEP for five years until 1984
Estimated value of EU pension: £1,610 a year
Last month she told peers about the referendum:
"I was bitterly disappointed at the result."
Baroness Bowles of Berkhamsted
MEP from 2005 to 2104
Estimated value of EU pension: £12,100 a year
Described the media coverage of the referendum as '"shocking".
Lord Teverson
MEP from 1994 to 1999
Estimated value of EU pension: £4,700 a year
After the referendum result he said:
"Brexit does not mean Brexit".
Baroness Morgan of Ely
An MEP from 1994 to 2009
Estimated value of EU pension: £19,429 a year
Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne
Serving as an MP until 1997 and an MEP from 1999 to 2009
Estimated value of EU pension: £12,953
Lord Plumb
Britain's only president of the EU was an MEP for 20 years until 1999
Estimated value of EU pension: £18,800 each year
Baroness Quin
Former minister for Europe, she served as a Labour MEP for ten years
Estimated value of EU pension: £4,800 each year
After the referendum she said:
"As a lifelong supporter of the EU, I was utterly dismayed at the outcome."
Lord Tomlinson
MEP for ten years
Estimated value of EU pension: £9,400 pension a year
On granting votes to expatriates during the referendum he said:
"There is something very wrong if British people who have devoted their careers to working for the EU were unable to vote in a referendum on the future of the EU."
Tory Lord Tugendhat
Former vice president of the European Commission
Estimated value of EU pension: £41,000 a year
After the referendum result he said:
"All the wrong people are cheering."
Baroness Billingham
Chief whip in the Labour group in the European Parliament in the 1990s
Estimated value of EU pension: £4,700 each year
Lord Truscott
MEP for five years between 1994 and 1999
Estimated value of EU pension: £3,700 a year
Lord Richard
EU Commissioner from 1981 to 1985
Estimated value of EU pension: £18,450 a year
Baroness Rawlings
MEP for five years from 1989 to 1994
Estimated value of EU pension: £3,100 each year
Lord Clinton-Davis
An EU Commissioner from 1985 to 1989
Estimated value of EU pension: £21,500 a year
Lord Harrison
MEP for a decade from 1989 to 1999
Estimated value of EU pension: £9,400 a year
Baroness McIntosh of Pickering
An MEP for ten years from 1989 to 1999
Estimated value of EU pension: £9,400 a year
Amounts estimated by Change Britain
