It was once said if you want to make something absolutely secret in politics you should announce it in the European Parliament. And the to this day the UK media give the parliament next to no coverage whatsoever, thus hiding much of what happens there. For example how may of you have heard that UKIP MEP Nikki Sinclaire has just walked out of the Europe of Freedom and Democracy grouping in disputes over policy and personalities? Very few as it's had hardly any media coverage.
And what is also not noted much is that certain MEPs and political parties are not helping give their country a strong voice in the parliament. However there is a website called VoteWatch.eu which helps tracks MEPs' voting records and it throws up some surprising revelations.
The big one that stands out to me are the results for "Loyalty to member state". Can you guess which country has more of the 50 least loyal MEPs than any other?
Yes it's the United Kingdom. Even more astonishing is that of the 32 least loyal MEPs, 16 consist of the entirety of the British National Party, the UK Independence Party and the Democratic Unionist Party delegations. They rank as follows:
2. Nick GRIFFIN - BNP
3. Godfrey BLOOM - UKIP
6. Andrew Henry William BRONS - BNP
12. Mike NATTRASS - UKIP
17. Nicole SINCLAIRE - UKIP
18. Marta ANDREASEN - UKIP
19. Nigel FARAGE - UKIP
20. William (The Earl of) DARTMOUTH - UKIP
22. Derek Roland CLARK - UKIP
24. John BUFTON - UKIP
25. Trevor COLMAN - UKIP
26. John Stuart AGNEW - UKIP
27. Gerard BATTEN - UKIP
28. David CAMPBELL BANNERMAN - UKIP
31. Paul NUTTALL - UKIP
32. Diane DODDS - DUP
Not a great list is it? So much for their claims to be different from one another. Or to be giving the UK a strong voice in Europe!
Oh and this is not a phenomenon exclusive to the UK had and far right. Other MEPs in the top ten include the following members of the BNP's and UKIP's sister parties:
1. Philippe de VILLIERS - Movement for France
8. Krisztina MORVAI - Movement for a Better Hungary
9. Jean-Marie LE PEN - French National Front
10. Marine LE PEN - French National Front
3 comments:
Could you please describe how Loyalty (or lack of it) is measured?
Ah, Just answered my own question. Apparently it is how often they vote with the majority from the same member state. Given that all MEPs apart from UKIP, BNP and a couple of tories, vote for all things federal, that isn't all that surprising is it? Personally I think the ones you list are probably the most loyal to this country.
I find it rather surprising that Roger Helmer and Daniel Hannen come so high up the list.
It would be interesting to have MEPs rated positely by how much they screw up the system and waste the federalists time.
UKIP far right, come now Tim I thought better of you? Don't tell me the Conservatives are going to use this meme this general election as well.
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