I guess it is telling that, although I reported the previous elections here at parwich.org, in starting to draft this post I could not remember how many Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) are sent from the East Midlands, nor the names of any of them. So here is a recap of the sitting MEPs and the PR method used to elect them, as well as the candidates for the up coming May 22nd election.
Peter T
Our sitting MEPs are:
- Emma McClarkin, Conservative
emmamcclarkin.com
ecrgroup.eu/mep/emma-mcclarkin/
mobile.twitter.com/EmmaMcClarkin - Glenis Willmott, Labour
www.gleniswillmott.eu
www.eurolabour.org.uk/Glenis_Willmott_MEP
mobile.twitter.com/GlenisWillmott - Bill Newton Dunn, Liberal Democrat
www.newton-dunn.com
gedlinglibdems.org.uk/en/contact/bill-newton-dunn-mep
mobile.twitter.com/billnewtondunn - Roger Helmer, elected as Conservative, but defected to UKIP in 2012:
www.rogerhelmermep.co.uk
rogerhelmermep.wordpress.com
mobile.twitter.com/RogerHelmerMEP - Derek Clark, UKIP
www.derekclarkmep.org.uk
derekclarkmep.blogspot.co.uk
mobile.twitter.com/DerekClarkMEP
We vote as part of the East Midlands region, which returns five MEPs by closed party list proportional representation. Each party submits a list of up to five candidates indicating their order of preference. Voters then choose political parties, rather than individual candidates. Voters indicate a single preference and parties are allocated seats on a quota system in relation to the proportion of the votes they receive (see About My Vote). A party’s first seat goes to the first candidate on their list, a second seat to their second candidate and so on.
Four of the sitting MEPs are standing again, including Roger Helmer, who in 2012 defected from the Conservatives to UKIP. Here are the parties’ candidate lists, together with links to their websites, where we have been able to identify them:
Labour
- Glenis Willmott – sitting MEP see above
- Rory Palmer
rorypalmerblog.blogspot.co.uk
www.eastmidslabour.org.uk/rory_palmer_writes
mobile.twitter.com/Rory_Palmer - Linda Woodings
www.eastmidslabour.org.uk/european_elections_2014
mobile.twitter.com/LindaWoodings - Khalid Hadadi
www.eastmidslabour.org.uk/european_elections_2014 - Nicki Brooks
nickibrooks.net
www.eastmidslabour.org.uk/european_elections_2014
mobile.twitter.com/NickiBrooksx
Conservative
- Emma McClarkin – sitting MEP see above
- Andrew Lewer
andrewlewer.yourcllr.com
www.eastmidlandsconservatives.com - Rupert Matthews
www.eastmidlandsconservatives.com - Stephen Castens
www.eastmidlandsconservatives.com - Brendan Clarke-Smith
www.eastmidlandsconservatives.com
Liberal Democrat
- Bill Newton Dunn – sitting MEP see above
- Issan Ghazni
issanghazni.com
eastmidslibdems.org.uk/en/
mobile.twitter.com/Issanghazni - Phil Knowles
www.philknowles.eu
eastmidslibdems.org.uk/en/
mobile.twitter.com/PhilKnowlesLD - George Smid
georgesmid.wordpress.com
eastmidslibdems.org.uk/en/
mobile.twitter.com/GeorgeSmid - Deborah Newton-Cook
eastmidslibdems.org.uk/en/
UKIP
- Roger Helmer – sitting ‘Conservative’ MEP see above
ukipeastmids.wordpress.com/2014/02/10/our-candidates-roger-helmer-mep/ - Margot Parker
ukipeastmids.wordpress.com/2014/02/10/35/
www.ukip.org/people_mep_candidates
mobile.twitter.com/MargotLJParker - Jonathan Bullock
ukipeastmids.wordpress.com/2014/02/10/our-candidates-jonathan-bullock/
www.ukip.org/people_mep_candidates - Nigel Wickens
nigelwickens.wordpress.com
ukipeastmids.wordpress.com/2014/02/10/our-candidates-nigel-wickens/
www.ukip.org/people_mep_candidates
mobile.twitter.com/NigelWickens - Barry Mahoney
ukipeastmids.wordpress.com/2014/02/10/our-candidates-barry-mahoney/
www.ukip.org/people_mep_candidates
Green Party
- Kat Boettge
eastmidlandsgreenparty.wordpress.com
mobile.twitter.com/KatBoettge
eastmidlands.greenparty.org.uk/euro-elections2014.html - Sue Mallender
eastmidlands.greenparty.org.uk/euro-elections2014.html - Richard Mallender
eastmidlands.greenparty.org.uk/euro-elections2014.html
mobile.twitter.com/CllrRMallender - Peter Allen
eastmidlands.greenparty.org.uk/euro-elections2014.html - Simon Hales
eastmidlands.greenparty.org.uk/euro-elections2014.html
mobile.twitter.com/shales73
BNP
- Cathy Duffy
BNP East Midlands Euro Campaign - Robert West
- Bob Brindley
- Geoff Dickens
- Paul Hilliard
English Democrats
- Kevin Sills
englishdemocratseastmidlandscampaign.wordpress.com - Dave Wickham
- John Dowle
- Oliver Healey
- Terry Spencer
An Independence from Europe
- Chris Pain
www.chrispain.com
www.cllrchrispain.com - Val Pain
- Alan Jesson
- John Beaver
- Carl Mason
Harmony
- Steve Ward
Searching for the above links, what did strike me was ‘what an eccentric bunch’, from apparently courting controversy to paranormal research. I failed to find any East Midland links for some, though bnp.org, the website for Banal Na Pag-aaral, is interesting. If you find any better links do add them as comments below. Also let us know your thoughts on the European Parliament in relation to local issues.
PARWICH.ORG 
A comprehensive job you did here Peter T – an awful lot of work to inform the community electors here, for which many thanks.
I shall use your excellent post as a firm foundation for my own research prior to voting. Meanwhile, I’m keen to know what our elected (now elective) FIVE representatives actually do in the European Parliament, except to push the National Party Line. Questions I’d like answered (by anyone) include:
How much do these MEP’s cost the taxpayer for doing whatever it is they do?
By what means do they represent the views of local people?
How do they communicate with constituents, if at all?
Has anyone heard from any of them over the past few years, except Party political promotional literature posted through the letter box?
I know the East Midlands is a big Constituency, but we have five MEP’s, and their apparent anonymity is troubling.
Anthony C
Anthony, during the previous European elections, parwich.org attempted to contact all the candidates, and also subsequently emailed the successful MEPs, inviting response to the issues raised by our readers.
Not many responded at all, a couple indicated they did not see communicating with local communities as part of their remit, and only one attempted to respond to the issues raised. This was Bill Newton Dunn who has subsequently sent us his regular newsletter, though we stopped posting it on the Blog, as it is usually not relevant to our local brief.