Labour MEP for Yorkshire & Humber
In a democracy, people who want to change or undermine the system have the option to gather support and stand for election within that system — but they then have to decide what to do if they’re elected within the very system they want to break up. If you’re elected to a parliament of which you […]
After a good deal of speculation, David Cameron has unexpectedly nominated a little-known peer, Lord Hill, as Britain’s next European Commissioner. This is a bizarre choice. Following his car-crash of a negotiating strategy over Juncker’s nomination, Cameron desperately needs to claw back some British influence and credibility in the eyes of neighbouring countries by securing […]
This weekend, I spoke at two commemorations of the Srebrenica massacre — one in Leeds (at the Makkah Masjid mosque) and one in Bradford (at the town hall) — marking the 19th anniversary of the cold-blooded massacre of over 8000 Muslims in the Bosnian civil war. I visited Srebrenica three years ago. Like others in […]
British universities are represented in many arenas by Universities UK. One of their current campaigns is to spread the word about the value that UK universities, and through it our world-leading research and higher education generally, gain from British membership of the EU. A few highlights: The UK does disproportionately well in securing EU research funding, which stimulates […]
Travelling regularly again between Brussels and Yorkshire has enabled me to renew my acquaintance with Leeds Bradford airport. The changes over the last five years are striking — though not all to the good! For a start, it’s now impossible to drop someone off by car, or pick them up, without paying a parking charge […]
David Cameron claims that the Conservative party has united behind his much-vaunted ‘renegotiate and decide‘ agenda for Britain in Europe. But, behind the scenes, forces are marshalling for position ready for a battle of epic proportions — a battle whose opening skirmishes are taking place right now. Pro-European Tories are being ruthlessly hunted down by hardline eurosceptics. Some have withdrawn from […]
It was a pleasant change from parliamentary discussions about committee chairs when I had the pleasure of hearing Peter Murray, founding director of the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, speak at the European Land Art Network yesterday. This EU-funded project brings together the Yorkshire Sculpture Park and others which display art in a natural setting or use nature as part of art. […]
I predicted yesterday that UKIP would start bleating when their group’s candidates for a committee chair didn’t receive support from other political groups in the European Parliament. On Twitter, they are now claiming this breaks “EU rules” and that democracy requires them to be given a committee chair! So let’s get something straight. There is […]
Today in Brussels, Parliament’s new committees meet for the first time to formally elect their chairs and vice-chairs. Traditionally, before we proceed to elect our important posts at the start of a term, the main political groups try to reach an agreement allocating these posts to candidates from each group in proportion to the size […]
The arrival of new and old MEPs in Strasbourg for the first European Parliament session has been described as feeling like the first week of a new school year — with new pupils (sorry, Members) getting lost, sorting out who gets which room (sorry, office), finding out who will be in which class (sorry, committee) […]
A colleague shared with me this rather fun extract from the Atlas of Prejudice, showing 20 different ways to slice up the continent of Europe. Enjoy!
Ahead of tomorrow’s vote in the European Parliament to elect its new president (speaker), Sajjad Karim MEP, the Conservative candidate, is asking for support from MEPs from other parties. I have also been getting emails from Conservatives in Yorkshire asking me to support him. I have respect for him as an individual MEP. He fights his […]
I was quoted today in The Observer: Richard Corbett, elected in May as a Labour MEP after being an adviser to Herman van Rompuy, the president of the European council, said Cameron had set too much store by Merkel as an ally, believing that if he had her on side he was home and dry. “He […]
Before taking my seat next week in the European Parliament, I was yesterday in the press room at the European Council meeting in Brussels on behalf of E!Sharp magazine, a respected journal on European affairs. It’s always instructive to witness how the media scene operates at such ‘summits’. Apart from the BBC, which has its own […]
Downing Street spin doctors have always had an easy time creating their own version of what happens at European summits. A combination of lobby journalists with little understanding of the EU, some compliant allies in the press, and not wanting facts to get in the way of a good story, usually combine to ensure that a […]
I’m old enough to remember watching (as a very young boy) England’s victory in the 1966 World Cup final. At the time, I thought it was in the natural order of things that England should be world champions. I was fully expecting us to continue this domination of world football. I was already puzzled that […]
This week is the hundredth anniversary of the assassination of Austrian Archduke Ferdinand in Vienna which triggered the start of the First World War. Two highly symbolic events to mark it stand out: one by governments in Ypres and one by civil society organisations in Sarajevo. Herman van Rompuy’s initiative to convene the heads of state […]
I was delighted, if slightly overwhelmed, to receive more than 200 applications for the posts I advertised to work in my parliamentary and constituency offices. Because I knew some of the applicants, and not wanting this to bias the process, I established a set of criteria for scoring the initial applications. The actual evaluations on […]
The current spat over choosing the next president of the European Commission is not the first time that David Cameron has picked the wrong battle to fight on Europe — and in the process damaged Britain’s influence and his own. Worse still, these serial miscalculations are a frightening foreshadowing of how things are likely to go if […]
Some people have expressed surprise about Labour’s reluctance to endorse Juncker as the new president of the European Commission, not least given my criticisms of how Cameron has handled the issue. But Labour MEPs are hardly likely to rush to support the candidate of the centre-right. The candidate of Merkel, Rajoy and other conservative Prime […]
As excitement builds for the 2014 World Cup that’s starting in a few days, it’s a real shame that the preparations have been marred by increasing rumours that something went seriously amiss in the process for awarding the 2022 tournament to Qatar. If it turns out the vote, or preparations for it, were fraudulent, of […]
The European Parliamentary Labour Party has a sleek new website where you can keep up-to-date with our work in the European Parliament.
Is Cameron yet again picking the wrong battle to fight in Europe? The Commission President is important, but at the end of the day the Commission only proposes new EU rules — it doesn’t decide on them, or shape the general direction of the union. Given that there appears to be a qualified majority among […]
The BBC is supposed to be unbiased. But its patently biased coverage of the European and local elections of May this year was more like Fox News. It gave a huge and undeserved boost to Nigel Farage, providing a prominent figurehead and rallying-point for his supporters, extending his apparent credibility way beyond what it deserved, and constantly providing […]
