Glenys 'one of 30 MEPs in Brussels expenses row'

Glenys Kinnock was today embroiled in a row over Euro MPs who face accusations they exploit a generous expenses system run by Brussels.

The wife of the former Labour leader was one of 30 British MEPs who were said regularly to turn up to sign an attendance register, claim £175-a-day allowances and leave minutes later.

Mrs Kinnock, 59, is paid more than £70,000 as a Euro MP and can claim more than £100,000 a year in expenses.

She and other British members have been named after an exposÈ by Austrian MEP Hans-Peter Martin, who claims Mrs Kinnock is one of the most prolific "offenders".

He claims she has left the European parliament within an hour of signing its register on at least 26 occasions.

Other Labour members named by Mr Martin, who was left on the floor after an altercation with British MEP Gordon Adam last week when he tried to film him signing the register, include Scottish member Catherine Stihler, West Midlands MEP Neena Gill and East of England member Eryl McNally.

The practice of signing up, then leaving early, is not against the European Commission's rules but Mr Martin wants it outlawed.

He has handed a dossier to Pat Cox, president of the European parliament, but Mr Cox has claimed he has provided "zero evidence of wrongdoing".

A spokesman for Mrs Kinnock, first elected as an MEP in 1994, said: "Glenys does not want to say anything on this. She backs what Pat Cox said and does not want to give Mr Martin any more publicity."

However, the allegations against Mrs Kinnock are likely to embarrass her husband Neil, vicepresident of the EU, who has just been put in charge of an internal crackdown against fraud.

The former Labour leader earns more than £160,000 a year, as well as a £24,000-a-year "housekeeping" budget for his three-storey Brussels home, and a £7,000 annual entertainment budget. He has the use of a chauffeur-driven car for his official duties.

The couple's son, Stephen, works for the British Council in Brussels and his wife, Helle, is a Danish MEP.

All salaries and expenses paid to commissioners and MEPs are funded by taxpayers in the EU's member states.