European Parliament elections: make a positive vote

Last week, the Liberal Democrats launched the 2019 European Parliament (EP) campaign with a simple message: Vote for the Lib Dems to Stop Brexit. Simple messages, repeated often, are effective. There should be no criticism of the Lib Dem high command for that approach. They will have been reassured by the results of last Thursday's local elections in England and Northern Ireland, in which the most prominent and unequivocal pro-EU parties, the Liberal Democrats, Greens and Alliance* all made gains, while the basically pro-Brexit (though with different shades of fervour) parties, Labour and the Conservatives, were trounced. Although local issues must have played a larger part than London commentators acknowledged, Brexit overshadowed the elections. Mentally bruised Labour and Tory activists reported on TV how, time after time, Brexit was raised spontaneously on the doorstep. There is no doubt that the more Liberal Democrat MEPs are returned this month, then the more that government and opposition will take notice that a change of direction is needed.

But there is more to the vote than that, and even those who expect the UK to leave the Union this year might wish to reflect on this. For five months, possibly more, judging by Mrs May's record in these matters, the UK will be represented in one of the three co-dependent key bodies of the European Union (for a reminder of the power of the directly-elected parliament, this is the official summary) . It is important that we send to Brussels people who will earn their corn, and not treat their membership as a sinecure, a means of personal enrichment while they either absent themselves from the parliament or cause trouble there.

Liberal Democrats have punched above their weight in the EP in the past. Before the 2014 reaction against our time in coalition, when UKIP aided by massive BBC exposure took so many seats, Lib Dem MEPs played their full part and more in EP affairs. I had hoped that the excellent Vote Watch EU site would provide evidence, but their archive is not as detailed as that of the Westminster equivalents. However, ALDE (Alliance of Liberals and  Democrats for Europe) comes to the rescue and the following is an extract from pen-portraits of MEPs who served up to 2014.

Graham Watson (now Sir Graham)

From 1994 to 1999, Graham was a member of the Committee for Economic & Monetary Affairs and Industrial Policy and the Budgets Committee. From July 1999 to 2002 he served as Chairman of the Committee on Citizens’ Freedoms and Rights, Justice and Home Affairs. From 2009 until 2014 he was a member of the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee and Chairman of Parliament’s delegation for relations with India.


Sarah Ludford (now Baroness Ludford)

A senior member of the European Parliament civil liberties, justice & home affairs committee, she took a leading role in formulation of EU cooperation measures on crime, terrorism and data exchange but also on data protection and civil liberties safeguards, and plays a strong part in developing laws on biometric visas, border security, immigration and asylum. Sarah was also Vice-Chair of the European Parliament Human Rights Sub-Committee and Member of the Foreign Affairs Committee. She had been the European Parliament’s rapporteur on Guantanamo Bay and was a founder and vice-chair of the parliament’s investigation into European governments’ collusion in CIA ‘torture flights’ and secret prisons. She was a member of the delegation to the United States, took a strong interest in the Balkans, Turkey, Cyprus and the Middle East, and is a member of the Liberal Democrat Friends of Israel.

Fiona Hall

Fiona was a full member of the Industry, Research and Energy Committee and a substitute member of the Development Committee, working in particular on natural disasters, climate change and economic partnership agreements. Fiona took part as an MEP observer in a number of EU election observation missions and was Chief Observer of the EU Election Observation Mission toTogo in 2007 and Mozambique in 2009.


Sharon Bowles (now Baroness Bowles of Berkhamsted)
A chartered Patent and European Patent Attorney with her own professional practice (Bowles Horton partnership), she has extensive experience drafting and prosecuting patents for leading edge companies over a wide range of technical fields. Sharon was a full member of the influential Economic and Monetary Affairs committee of which she was elected Chairwoman in 2009 – as the first Liberal and Briton in this job. She was reelected to this role in January 2012. She also sat as a substitute member of the Legal Affairs committee from January 2007. In February 2006 she was central in the formation of the Committee of Inquiry into the crisis of the Equitable Life Assurance Society. She was a member of the Financial and Economic Crisis committee. As shadow rapporteur for ALDE, Sharon was a key player in the Payment Services Directive (PSD) negotiations. As rapporteur she led for the Parliament on fiscal fraud and was shadow rapporteur on Solvency II. However, her technical and professional experience meant she was involved in a range of matters spread over many other committees. So much for Farage's brazen charge that no MEP could hold down a real job. 

Chris Davies worked cross-party with the late Paul Flynn MP to decriminalise drugs. In the EP, he was team leader (‘coordinator’) on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety Committee for the 85-strong European Liberal Democrat (ALDE) Group of MEPs. He also sat on the Budgetary Control Committee and was a member of the Delegation to the EU-Cyprus Joint Parliamentary Committee. Chris was rapporteur for the ‘CCS Directive’ in 2008, and played a key role in introducing the principal funding mechanism used to support development of CCS demonstration projects. However, he was also closely involved in the shaping of legislation dealing with emissions from vehicles, chemicals, waste, and the pollution of air and water. Within the Parliament he also campaigned for policies to promote sustainable fisheries and to protect biodiversity. He co-founded the cross-party Fish for the Future campaign group in the European Parliament and acted as its secretary and organiser to push for a far-reaching reform of the Common Fisheries Policy.


Catherine Bearder survived the slaughter of 2014.
She is a member of the Parliament’s Committee on Regional Development and the Committee on Transport. She is also a member of the Parliament’s delegation to the Joint Parliamentary Assembly between the EU and the ACP (Africa,Caribbeanand Pacific Regions). Having travelled in Africa studying conservation issues, Catherine puts emphasis on safeguarding biodiversity and tackling climate change. She is President of the Green Liberal Democrats and is working to ensure that environmental protection is core to European Policy, not just an ‘add-on’. She has also campaigned on social justice and rural issues, and has a particular interest in tackling human trafficking.

Sam Bennett leads this year's Welsh Liberal Democrat list. He is well-prepared to take his place in the Parliament. In 2012 Sam graduated from Aberystwyth University with a Masters in European Politics. After a dynamic few years working in Kirsty Williams' Brecon office, he moved to Swansea to work for Swansea University international development office, working to recruit international students, and support the exchange programmes specifically with Erasmus. This later became a permanent role working for Swansea University Medical School in Marketing as Digital Lead for the School.

So I would like to see our party, in addition to the anti-Brexit message, not only promote the brilliance and dynamism of our lead candidate in Wales, but also tell the electorate what Liberal Democrats can do for us in Europe, pointing to our record there. 

*Sinn Fein are more recent converts