East Midlands (European Parliament constituency)

East Midlands
European Parliament constituency
Location among the 2014 constituencies
Shown within England
Member state	United Kingdom
Created	1999
MEPs	6 (1999 - 2009) 5 (2009 - present)
Sources

East Midlands is an English constituency of the European Parliament in the United Kingdom. Established in 1999 with six members to replace single-member districts, since 2009 it has returned five MEPs, elected using the d'Hondt method of party-list proportional representation.

Boundaries

The constituency corresponds to the East Midlands region of England, comprising the counties of Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Rutland, Northamptonshire and the non-Metropolitan county of Lincolnshire.

History

The constituency was organized as a result of the European Parliamentary Elections Act 1999, replacing a number of single-member constituencies. These were Leicester, Northamptonshire and Blaby, Nottingham and Leicestershire North West, Nottinghamshire North and Chesterfield, and parts of Lincolnshire and Humberside South, Peak District, and Staffordshire East and Derby.

MEPs for former East Midlands constituencies, 1979 – 1999
Election		1979 – 1984		1984 – 1989		1989 – 1994		1994 – 1999
Derbyshire (1979 – 1994)		Tom Spencer Conservative		Geoff Hoon Labour				Seat abolished
Leicester		Frederick Tuckman Conservative				Mel Read Labour		Susan Waddington Labour
Lincolnshire (1979 – 1994) Lincolnshire and Humberside South (1994 – 1999)		Bill Newton Dunn Conservative						Veronica Hardstaff Labour
Northamptonshire (1979 – 1994) Northamptonshire and Blaby (1994 – 1999)		Anthony Simpson Conservative						Angela Billingham Labour
Nottingham (1979 – 1994) Nottingham and Leicestershire North West (1994 – 1999)		Michael Gallagher Labour (1979–1984) SDP (1984)		Michael Kilby Conservative		Ken Coates Labour		Mel Read Labour
Nottinghamshire North and Chesterfield (1994 – 1999)	Seat not established							Ken Coates Labour
Peak District (1994 – 1999)	Seat not established							Arlene McCarthy Labour
Staffordshire East and Derby (1994 – 1999)	Staffordshire East in West Midlands							Phillip Whitehead Labour

Returned members

MEPs for the East Midlands, 1999 onwards
Election		1999 (5th parliament)		2004 (6th parliament)		2009 (7th parliament)		2014 (8th parliament)
MEP Party		Phillip Whitehead Labour				Glenis Willmott Labour
MEP Party		Mel Read Labour		Derek Clark UKIP				Margot Parker UKIP
MEP Party		Roger Helmer Conservative (1999–2012) UKIP (2012–)
MEP Party		Bill Newton Dunn Conservative (1999–2000) Liberal Democrat (2000–2014)						Andrew Lewer Conservative
MEP Party		Chris Heaton-Harris Conservative				Emma McClarkin Conservative
MEP Party		Nick Clegg Liberal Democrat		Robert Kilroy-Silk UKIP (2004) Veritas (2004–05) Independent (2005–09)	Seat abolished

Notes:

• ¹ Roger Helmer announced on 12 October 2011 his intention to stand down from the European Parliament. After uncertainty whether his place would be taken by the next person on the Conservative Party's list for the East Midlands region, he defected to UKIP and completed his term as MEP.

Key to the Political Groups in the European Parliament (UK)[1]					(v.d.e)
	UK Independence Party	22		Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy	45
	Conservative Party	20		European Conservatives and Reformists	73
	Ulster Unionist Party	1
	Labour Party	20		Socialists and Democrats	190
	Green Party of England and Wales	3		The Greens–European Free Alliance	50
	Scottish National Party	2
	Plaid Cymru	1
	Liberal Democrats	1		Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe	70
	Sinn Féin	1		European United Left–Nordic Green Left	52
	Independent	1		Europe of Nations and Freedom	36
	Democratic Unionist Party	1		Non-Inscrits	16

Complaint against Kilroy-Silk

In August 2005, four of the MEPs for the region (Clark, Heaton-Harris, Helmer and Whitehead) sent a joint letter to President of the European Parliament Josep Borrell to complain of Kilroy-Silk:

"He seems to have done little or no work as a constituency MEP for the East Midlands. This leaves five MEPs to do the work of six and the electorate have been short-changed". They complained that Kilroy-Silk was not "fulfilling the pledge he made on becoming an MEP, to serve the electorate of his region" and to call for him to "either do the job for which he is paid, or get out and leave it to those who can."

The parliament has no power to remove Mr Kilroy-Silk, who is understood to have attended the minimum number of plenary sessions required to be eligible for his parliamentary allowances. Such a complaint was unprecedented. Kilroy-Silk refused to comment on it. The European Parliament does not have any power to expel a member, and Borrell took no action.

Election results

Elected candidates are shown in bold. Brackets indicate the number of votes per seat won.

2014

European Election 2014: East Midlands
List		Candidates	Votes	%	±%
	UKIP	Roger Helmer, Margot Parker, Jonathan Bullock, Nigel Wickens, Barry Mahoney	368,734 (184,367)	32.90	+16.45
	Conservative	Emma McClarkin, Andrew Lewer, Rupert Matthews, Stephen Castens, Brendan Clarke-Smith	291,270 (145,635)	25.99	−4.16
	Labour	Glenis Willmott, Rory Palmer, Linda Woodings, Khalid Hadadi, Nick Brooks	279,363	24.93	+8.08
	Green	Katharina Boettge, Sue Mallender, Richard Mallender, Peter Allen, Simon Hales	67,066	5.98	−0.85
	Liberal Democrat	Bill Newton Dunn, Issan Ghazni, Phil Knowles, George Smid, Deborah Newton-Cook	60,773	5.42	−6.91
	An Independence from Europe	Chris Pain, Val Pain, Alan Jesson, John Beaver, Carl Mason	21,384	1.91	N/A
	BNP	Catherine Duffy, Robert West, Bob Brindley, Geoffrey Dickens, Paul Hilliard	18,326	1.64	−7.02
	English Democrats	Kevin Sills, David Wickham, John Dowie, Oliver Healey, Terry Spencer	11,612	1.04	−1.28
	Harmony Party	Steve Ward	2,194	0.2	N/A
Turnout			1,120,722	33.2	−3.9

2009

European Election 2009: East Midlands
List		Candidates	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Roger Helmer, Emma McClarkin Rupert Matthews, Fiona Bulmer, George Lee	370,275 (185,137.5)	30.2	+3.8
	Labour	Glenis Willmott Roy Kennedy, Kathryn Salt, J David Morgan, Cate Taylor	206,945	16.9	−4.1
	UKIP	Derek Clark Christopher Pain, Stephen Allison, Deva Kumarasiri, Irena Marriott	201,184	16.4	−9.6
	Liberal Democrat	Bill Newton-Dunn Ed Maxfield, Veena Hudson, Denise Hawksworth, Deborah Newton-Cook	151,428	12.3	−0.6
	BNP	Robert West, Cathy Duffy, Peter Jarvis, Lewis Alsebrook, Kevin Stafford	106,319	8.7	+2.1
	Green	Sue Blount, Richard Mallender, Ashley Baxter, Matthew Follett, Barney Smith	83,939	6.8	+1.4
	English Democrats	Derek Hilling, Tony Ellis, Diane Bilgrami, David Ball, Anthony Edwards	28,498	2.3	N/A
	UK First	Ian Gillman, Christopher Elliot, Nadine Platt, David Noakes, Mariann Finch	20,561	1.7	N/A
	Christian	Suzanne Nti, Thomas Rogers, Timothy Webb, Colin Bricher, Doreen Schrimshaw	17,907	1.5	N/A
	Socialist Labour	David Roberts, Paul Liversuch, Shaun Kirkpatrick, Michael Clifford, Thea Roberts	13,590	1.1	N/A
	NO2EU	John McEwan, Avtar Sadiq, Jean Thorpe, Shangara Singh Gahonia, Laurence Platt	11,375	0.9	N/A
	Libertas	Richard Elvin, Margot Parker, Peter Chaplin	7,882	0.6	N/A
	Jury Team	James Lowey, Simon Flude, James Parker, Henry Blanchard, Perry Wilsher	7,362	0.6	N/A
Turnout			1,228,065	37.1	−6.3

2004

European Election 2004: East Midlands
List		Candidates	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Roger Helmer, Chris Heaton-Harris Pauline Latham, Sharon Buckle, Jonathan Bullock, Sarah Richardson	371,362 (185,681)	26.4	−13.1
	UKIP	Robert Kilroy-Silk, Derek Clark Ian Gillman, Peter Baker, John Browne, Barry Mahoney	366,498 (183,249)	26.1	+18.5
	Labour	Phillip Whitehead Glenis Willmott, Ross Willmott, Vandna Kalia, Alan Rhodes, Elizabeth Donnelly	294,918	21.0	−7.6
	Liberal Democrat	Bill Newton Dunn Alan Riley, Veena Hudson, Richard Church, Deborah Newton-Cook, Lisa Gabriel	181,964	12.9	+0.2
	BNP	Peter Francis, Clive Potter, Patrick May, John Pennington, Wendy Russell, John Hall	91,860	6.5	+5.2
	Green	Brian Fewster, Susan Blount, Robert Ball, Simon Anthony, Paul Bodenham, John Chadwick	76,633	5.5	+0.1
	Respect	Mohammed Suleman, Sulma Mansuri, Pauline Robinson, Helen Merryman, Craig Plowman, Mary Littlefield	20,009	1.4	N/A
	Independent	Russell Rogers	2,615	0.2	N/A
	Independent	Shadmyraine Halliday	847	0.1	N/A
Turnout			1,406,706	43.4	+20.6

1999

European Election 1999: East Midlands
List		Candidates	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Roger Helmer, Bill Newton Dunn, Chris Heaton-Harris Javed Arain, Sharon Buckle, Pauline Latham	285,662 (95,220.67)	39.5	N/A
	Labour	Mel Read, Phillip Whitehead Angela Billingham, Susan Waddington, Valerie Vaz, Veronica Hardstaff, John Mann	206,756 (103,378)	28.6	N/A
	Liberal Democrat	Nick Clegg Susan Barber, Ash Vadher, Lisa Gabriel, Brian Niblett, Lesley Dunbar	92,398	12.7	N/A
	UKIP	Hugh Meechan, Edward Spalton, Derek Clark, David Barraclough, Barry Mahoney, Dusan Torbica	54,800	7.6	N/A
	Green	Gaynor Backhouse, Geoffrey Forse, Brian Fewster, Sue Blount, Ashley Baxter, Jill Bullock	38,954	5.4	N/A
	Leeds Left Alliance	Ken Coates, Tony Simpson, Jill Dawn, Peter Jackson, Peter McGowan, Robert West	17,409	2.4	N/A
	Pro-Euro Conservative	Freddie de Lisle, John Szermerey, Julien Goodman, Katheryn Stokes, Greg Chadwick, Clive Stoddart	11,359	1.6	N/A
	BNP	Steven Belshaw, Adrian Belshaw, Barry Roberts, Neil Phillips, Edward Sheppard, Michael Coleman	9,342	1.3	N/A
	Socialist Labour	David Roberts, Paul Liversuch, Valerie Seabright, Thea Hutt, Stanley Taylor, Stephen Marvin	5,528	0.8	N/A
	Natural Law	Russell France, Susan Lincoln, Patricia Saunders, David Cooke, Andrew Doughty, Neil Allison	1,525	0.2	N/A
Turnout			723,733	22.8	N/A