EU accounts 'outrage'

The repeated failure of the EU to have its accounts approved has been described as "an outrage" by local MEP Paul Nuttall.

"This is now the 19th year in a row that the European Court of Auditors has refused to give the EU Budget a clean bill of health. Worse still the 'error rate', - shorthand for unaccounted money - is on the rise," said Mr Nuttall, UKIP deputy leader.

Auditors estimate error rate for spending from EU budget was 4.8%, significantly up from previous years.

"This EU fraud is because the EU is institutionally flawed. While British taxpayers are struggling to keep their families afloat, Barroso and the European Commission are sitting in cloud cuckoo land and treating funds like Monopoly money," said Mr Nuttall.

"It is about time that we were able to get this EU albatross off our backs, or at least out of our pockets."

"This week, it has been revealed that the EU has just wasted thousands of pounds on studies into toilet behaviour and use of vacuum cleaners – this is a huge waste, but according to the auditors is not counted as fraud. This is an example of ridiculous waste of money," said Mr Nuttall.