Labour's Richard Corbett said it was a sad day for Yorkshire's reputation that one of its MEPs, Godfrey Bloom of the so-called UK Independence party, has been named and shamed by the speaker of the Parliament and fined for behaving like a yob.
Richard said that any claim that Mr Bloom has been gagged is rubbish and insisted the UKIP MEP fully deserves the punishment he received for trying to bring parliamentary proceedings to a halt during a speech by the Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates.
Hans Gert Pottering, the speaker of the Parliament, has made it quite clear that it is not Mr Bloom's views that are being criticised, but his attempt to prevent others from expressing their views.
"Hollering and howling in a bid to drown out anyone making a speech on the floor of the parliament is quite blatantly unacceptable behaviour and is something that no parliament tolerates, whether it's the Commons or the European Parliament," said Corbett.
He added: "All views were expressed in Parliament's debate on the subject (a human rights charter) and a democratic vote had determined Parliament's position before the attempt to prevent the Portuguese Prime Minister from speaking."
Bloom's own rights to speak in debates and to vote remain intact - he and his eight colleagues from various parties simply broke the rules of the parliament and have been fined accordingly.
- Richard Corbett is Deputy Leader of the Labour MEPs
- Hans Gert Pottering's explanation of Godfrey Bloom's punishment is available online at http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+PV+20080312+ITEM-014+DOC+XML+V0//EN&language=EN
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