THIS week in Parliament we had a vote on a motion regarding the amount of money we contribute to the budget of the European Union.

THIS week in Parliament we had a vote on a motion regarding the amount of money we contribute to the budget of the European Union.

I, like all Conservative MPs, want to reduce the amount of money going to the EU, not least because of the collective belt-tightening going on at home in the UK.

I did, however, support the Government on this occasion because I believe that David Cameron needs to have the necessary negotiating power when debating this issue in Brussels.

Although a laudable concept in principle, I was bemused by the Opposition’s amendment to reduce the amount of money going to the EU, as this is the same opposition that when in Government allowed the budget to increase every single year they were in power.

However, one area where I believe we can immediately reduce costs is the ending of the set-up whereby the European Parliament has two seats.

Every year the European Parliament spends €200million shuttling MEPs, staff and paperwork between Brussels and Strasbourg. This is an absurd waste of taxpayers’ money, it damages the environment and I think it is time it came to an end.

When Strasbourg was chosen as the official seat of Parliament, it was a symbol of Franco-German reconciliation, but it has now become a symbol of everything that is wrong with the EU.

The cost of this travelling circus from Brussels to Strasbourg is estimated at €200m per year and expends 20,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide.

That is why I am backing the ‘Stop the Strasbourg Circus’ campaign and calling on the coalition Government to push for this in the upcoming EU budget meetings.

The Prime Minister will shortly be participating in budget discussions with other EU heads of state on the content of the next seven-year EU budget deal.

Scrapping the Strasbourg Circus will save over �1bon as part of this deal. Times are tight and we shouldn’t be wasting money on vanity projects.

Please join the campaign and sign the petition at www.stopthestrasbourgcircus.com

JONATHAN DJANOGLY

MP for Huntingdon

House of Commons