Last week in Strasbourg the European Parliament decided to show its true colours following the rejection of a number of multi-million cost saving amendments contained in a report on estimates of revenue and expenditure for 2012.

In the vote, despite all the talk about the need for austerity, despite government cut-backs across the Member States and despite the fact that we are all in the midst of a severe financial crisis, MEPs decided to reject the following:

* An end to business class flights for flights less than 4 hours around Europe.
* A bid to stop increases in their General Expenditure Allowances (GEA)
* A review/revision of their Allowances including the Daily Allowance