Hidden away in the website of the European Parliament is a report that our MEPs recently voted for legislation to ensure that men and women are paid the same rate of pay for the same work. The resolution was “Equal pay for male and female workers (B7-0387/2013)”. It was passed overwhelmingly by 546 MEPs in September  but around 100 representatives abstained or voted against the motion. For some the reason given for opposing this declaration was not opposition to the principle of equal pay for equal work, but rather that the MEPs do not think the EU should be legislating on such matters. These dissenters include all of the UKIP MEPs (some of whom, like Nigel Farage were simply too busy to attend work that day) and all of the Conservative MEPs. These MEPs are well paid and have responsibility for doing what they promise to do.

So far I have not been able to find any rationale for the three way approach of UKIP MEPs (vote against, stay away, abstain), however the Conservative group made a statement:”The UK delegation recognises that the gender pay gap continues to widen; it is illegal, unfair to women and is a direct cause of poverty in older women. We fully support the principle that men and women should be paid equally for equal work. We recognise that a number of Member States have legislation in place and we urge those Member States to better enforce their own legislative mechanisms to deal with wage discrimination. Where Member States do not have national legislation in place, we urge them to implement measures to combat the gender pay gap. We do not support interference from the EU in matters which need to be addressed by Member States and we do not want to see matters of employment law being controlled by Europe. This is such a complex issue that it is best dealt with by employment experts in each Member State. For this reason the British Conservatives have voted against this resolution.”

We have an Equal Pay Act in place in the UK that was established in 1970, yet according to the most recent report from the Fawcett Society, women in the private sector earn on average 24% less per hour than men for doing the equivalent role in the workplace and the gap in the public sector is 17%. So my question as a constituent of six MEPs Daniel Hannan, Richard Ashworth, Marta Andreasen, James Elles, Nirj Deva and the absent Nigel Farage who apparently could not be bothered to take part, what plans do they have for ensuring that the wage disparity in the UK is addressed. What will they do to ensure that the 1970 law is strengthened and enforced. It is an easy matter to prepare a statement, but if that does not lead to action, it is no more than simple posturing. As we are less than a year away from the next EU election, in May 2014, and I understand that all 6 of these MEPs are wishing to be re-elected, I suspect that around 4 Million women in the South East constituency, along with most men will want to understand how these 6 people plan to respond to this issue?