UKIP's attendance record in the European Parliament is worse than that of their counterparts from the three major parties.
UKIP’s attendance record in the European Parliament is worse than that of their counterparts from the three major parties, according to data compiled by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI).
Happy to sign-in and collect their allowances, UKIP’s nine MEPs have missed around a third of the votes in the European Parliament between 2009 and October 2013. They have also missed almost all of the ‘reports amended’ sessions in which MEPs lay down amendments to legislation.
This was once again demonstrated on Wednesday, when Europe voted on whether its Parliament should continue meeting in both Brussels and Strasbourg, after a long campaign highlighting the fact that it costs European taxpayers €180m to meet in two locations rather than one.
Despite UKIP claiming to be standing up for Britain against European bureaucracy, however, only four UKIP MEPs out of nine bothered to turn up to vote on the measure at all. And those that did turn up abstained – on a measure that would have trimmed spending and cut waste!
And yet despite only four UKIP MEPs turning up to vote on the ‘second seat’ rule on Wednesday, six UKIP MEPs signed in to claim their daily spending allowance.
In other words, some UKIP MEPs signed in and couldn’t even be bothered to abstain!
To reach hundreds of thousands of new readers and to make the biggest impact we can in the next general election, we need to grow our donor base substantially.
That's why in 2024, we are seeking to generate 150 additional regular donors to support Left Foot Forward's work.
We still need another 124 people to donate to hit the target. You can help. Donate today.
66 Responses to “UKIP MEPs laziest in Europe”
Thoughtful Skeptic
So UKIP voters are fine with their MEPs cashing in the daily allowance while doing almost nothing except for public grand standing maybe.
There happened to be a vote which isn’t all too hard to understand. Schould the EP waste millions on a travel circus or should it demand the right to decide itself where to convene and end that travel circus. Even if your goal is to get Britain out as a whole, it is hard to argue why not to vote for ending the travel circus, while you are it.
Aden
Ukip can see how worthless the EU is & I would hate to be in the same room as any of those traitors from Brussels
TJ
… and to make Farage and his boys enough money as possible from expenses.
Rallan
UKIP members are very happy with what our MEPs are doing, thanks. The EU gravy train contributes a lot to UKIP funding.
UKIP MEPs are not there to make the EU work better, and have no desire to reform an institution that’s anti-British, corrupt and irredeemably anti-democratic. UKIP want out of the European Union. Our MEPs are there to expose the EU, so that the British people will understand the need to leave. Sorry if you don’t like it, but that’s the way it is. If the British people are unhappy with what UKIP MEPs do then UKIP will be suitably punished at the polls in the 2014 EU Parliamentary elections, and people you like will be elected in instead. Do you think that’s going to happen?
Oh, and any attempt to stop the Strasbourg/Brussels travelling circus will be vetoed by the French, and everyone knows it. The recent vote was just desperate PR in the face of rising euro-skepticism. It is not the job of UKIP MEPs to help the EU camouflage its appalling waste.
Gadfly33
How can UKIP MEPs vote for this “single seat” report with language in it such as the “EU is a representative democracy”. We don’t think that and we’d selling out to our voters if we voted for that. The report wasn’t even binding – it’s the parliament once again begging to be noticed because it doesn’t have any power to intiate new legisltion, start to amend or begin repeal of exisiting EU legislation. Only the unelected EU Commission can do that. Some “representative democracy”!