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!
66 Responses to “UKIP MEPs laziest in Europe”
TM
We’re not all dumb, we’re not all naïve, and we’re not all Lefties either! It always seems to be an epithet used by Right wingers that everyone or anyone who disagrees with them is a socialist. No, we just might disagree with you. Farage is a nice bloke and you could probably have a laugh with him in the boozer, but I have met nice blokes in the boozer before but I don’t necessarily want them running the country! UKIP are chancers and opportunists and going for the cheap populism and cheap jingoism of the likes of the Sun newspaper; that’s why many of us don’t want him in power. It will be just a continuation of the same politics. The same house, different coat of paint.
Rallan
So what? Just saying that they are “pretty objective” doesn’t mean a thing. You can pick a poll that says 10%. I can pick one that says 18%. What does that prove?
Over the last 2 years all polls have substantially under predicted actual UKIP results. Its obvious from the very different polls and wrong predictions that their formulas just can’t cope with having a 4th substantial party in the mix. UKIP is a wildcard.
I’m not calling conspiracy, and I’m not even (necessarily) saying that your 10% is wrong. I am saying that polls are now just a somewhat educated guess instead of a science.
Rallan
OMG, finally a decent hit! There can’t be any denying that a lot of the last batch of MEPs haven’t made UKIP proud. But we’ve still got some good ones there, and the 2014 batch will have been much more carefully selected.
The_Average_Joe_UK
He is stupid. Please dont hold back.
The_Average_Joe_UK
Blazeaway, fight the good fight.