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European packaging waste champion Caroline Jackson has become embroiled in the expenses scandal after it emerged she paid her husband £22,500 to produce a leaflet on waste management.

Jackson, who is the Conservative MEP for South-West England, was reported to have paid her husband Robert the fee for his help in producing the 15-page pamphlet, which was published in 2006.

The Sun claimed that the size of the payment had been "disguised" by splitting it into three and listing each part as an expense of between £0 and £10,000. The newspaper commented that the payment was "just one example of the gravy train at the European Parliament".

Jackson, who is rapporteur for the revision of the Waste Framework Directive in Brussels, said in a statement that the payment was an "appropriate professional fee".

She said: "I have a special interest as a member of the PE Environment Committee in questions of waste management policy. I published a pamphlet on this subject in 2006.

"In this connection my husband who has experience in this field and was for 14 years a consultant to a French engineering company active in this business in the UK and across Europe, provided advice and assistance. I paid him an appropriate professional fee."

Jackson's statement added that in 25 years as a politician, she had employed a regular staff of a secretary and a press agent in the UK and a PA in Brussels, none of whom was a family member.

In the packaging sphere, Jackson has campaigned for the EU to support hydro- and oxo-biodegradable plastics and she has been a key player in developing the Waste Framework Directive.