Labour MEP for Yorkshire & Humber
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 […]
Thanks to all those who sent such kind messages following my election to the European Parliament. I’m sorry not to be able to reply individually to so many hundreds of messages, emails, tweets, texts, posts, and more. Although I’m delighted to have won my seat back from the BNP, it’s disappointing that we so narrowly […]
Tonight saw the Labour Party bolster its influence in the European Parliament, winning new seats in many of the UK’s regions, including Yorkshire and the Humber — which re-elected Richard Corbett. UKIP managed little more than to add to the previous BNP votes to their 2009 results along with support from disgruntled Conservatives (UKIP + BNP in […]
Those who claim that Labour is shying away from discussing Europe in the European elections are wrong. For a start, we’ve said very clearly that we will have no truck with the idea of leaving the EU, which would risk economic disaster. Ed Miliband was very clear on ITV News: My priority is not exiting the European Union and […]
Question What systemic plan has the Commission put in place for ex-post evaluation of the 2013 reform of the common fisheries policy? Answer Under Article 49 of the regulation on the common fisheries policy, the Commission is obliged to report to the European Parliament and to the Council on the functioning of the Common Fisheries […]
The Guardian has taken a stab at the notoriously difficult task of predicting the outcome of European elections on Thursday, seat by seat, using a combination of recent national polls and including an attempt to model regional differences. In my region of Yorkshire & Humber, the poll implies a three-way tie between Labour (2 seats), […]
In the run-up to a national election, working in politics can seem even more exhausting than usual. But occasionally you receive an email — this from a Hertfordshire resident I’ve never met — which reminds you that it can also be immensely rewarding: Dear Richard, My voting card for the May 22 elections has been making […]
Mark Field, Conservative MP, sticks his head above the parapet to talk sense: ‘Britain must lead in Europe to remain a financial powerhouse‘: The temporary peace David Cameron brokered within the Conservative Party may yet unravel if UKIP make the gains they are expected to on 22 May. Many colleagues will misinterpret a robust electoral showing […]
