At the start of this year I was a Lib Dem from Yorkshire working and studying in London who according to some journalists was an “unknown” – although I was quite well known in certain Lib Dem circles, especially for my quiches! The resignation of Diana Wallis, as Lib Dem MEP for Yorkshire and the Humber changed all that.
In 2009 I was third on the Lib Dem list for Yorkshire and the Humber. When you are third on a regional list and the election sees only the first candidate being elected, you could be forgiven for thinking that the story is over. I thought that; it turns out that I was very wrong!
Diana’s resignation came as a surprise to me and countless others, but initially I did not think it would result in me becoming an MEP, although I did inform my boss ‘just in case’. But here I am, now 100 days into the job. I got down to work as soon as I could and started to get everything up and running, which is more complicated than one might imagine; staff cannot be hired overnight, parliamentary procedures are numerous and offices do not rent themselves.
It has been a busy few months. I became an MEP in the run up to the local elections, so my top priority was to help Lib Dem colleagues in the region. I spent most of my time campaigning in my ‘home patch’ of Calderdale helping out old friends and new colleagues. Calderdale Liberal Democrats did pretty well; losing two seats and gaining one. I was pleased to see across Yorkshire there was an improvement in local election results on the low of 2011.
I have also spent the last few months getting out and about across the region including visiting a number of businesses, which has given me a valuable insight into the state of the economy. One striking issue is that despite high levels of unemployment in the region, many businesses in the manufacturing and engineering sectors are having trouble recruiting people for skilled roles. We need to address this skills mis-match and I am pleased to hear of examples of how this is happening in the region.
As has been reported widely there has been significant flooding across the region over the last month or so. In particular, there was severe flooding in the Calder Valley on 22 June, which affected 900 properties in Todmorden, Hebden Bridge and Mytholmroyd. While this remains for the most part a local issue, there is a European dimension in relation to disaster cooperation between EU countries (a proposal I am pushing for in the Parliament) and in relation to home insurance for flood prone areas, which I am working on. I also visited the flood relief centre in Todmorden to see for myself the impact on my hometown and to offer my help to relief efforts.
One of the biggest issues for the Parliament recently has been ACTA, an international agreement on trade and copyright designed to tackle counterfeiting. Like many other MEPs, I was inundated with emails expressing opposition to ACTA and it was heavily debated in the Parliament. I am pleased to confirm that along with fellow Liberal MEPs in the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE) group, I voted against ACTA as did a huge majority of MEPs thus rejecting the agreement.
As a keen cyclist, I have also given my support to the campaign to start the 2016 Tour de France in Yorkshire, which is called “back le bid”. Yorkshire would provide a stunning backdrop to the tour and our hills would challenge even the world’s best cyclists.
This is a snippet of my new life as an MEP over the last few months. I hope, working alongside fellow Lib Dems across Yorkshire and the Humber, to play my part in achieving greater success in the months and years ahead.
* Rebecca Taylor is a member of Islington LibDems and the former MEP for Yorkshire and the Humber.
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13 Comments
“Membership Development Officer for Streatham Lib Dems”. Isn’t that a different Rebecca Taylor?
Look like LDV got mixed up with the 2 Rebecca Taylors!
I know what it is like to have a namesake in the party myself.
Thanks for the alert – now fixed
@Geoffrey: yes there are two LibDem Rebecca Taylors, but we look quite different and have been active in different local parties.. I met the other Rebecca Taylor at a training session last year in Camden : )
When the story of Diana Wallis’ resignation hit the media, I called the other Rebecca to warn her that she might get people contacting her thinking she was me (which did happen at least once!).
“I became an MEP in the run up to the local elections, so my top priority was to help Lib Dem colleagues in the region. I spent most of my time campaigning in my ‘home patch’ of Calderdale helping out old friends and new colleagues. ”
Could this have somthing to do with you having only been voted for by a small number of LibDem activists rather than the electorate as a whole. With the best will in the world this is not hy we have MEPs.
PS as much as love Yorkshire and its scenery – I very much doubt that its hill climbs would get anywhere near challenging those in the Alps and the Pyrenees. I’d be surprised if there is anything in Yorkshire above a category 3 climb.
@Geoffrey: Yes, but which Geoffrey Payne are you?
@toryboysnevergrowup: Lib Dems do not support closed list systems. It was Labour who imposed the system we currently have for electing MEPs in this country.
@toryboysnevergrowup: are you suggesting that an MEP should not help out their regional colleagues at the time of an election? Also, just to be clear: I wasn’t helping out with the local elections instead of my parliamentary/other MEP duties, but as well as.
You’ve made a fine start Rebecca. Keep it up!
I’m sure it’s very exciting to be an MEP – but what happened here is hardly a model of democracy is it? Maybe we could be reminded as to how many local party members voted for Rebecca Taylor to put her 3rd on the list.
@Martin: all MEPs in the UK are elected on a party ticket not as individuals , following the electoral system put in place by the Labour government in the late 90s. I am therefore in the European Parliament on the basis of the people who voted for the Liberal Democrat list in Yorkshire and the Humber in the 2009 European elections (a list upon which I was the third placed candidate).
If we want to talk about lack of democracy, what is democratic about an electoral system where a party commanding only 35% of the votes can have a majority in parliament? And what is democratic about a “safe seat” where whichever individual is chosen as the Labour or Conservative candidate will be the next MP and people living in that constituency who do not support the dominant party feel that their vote doesn’t count?
@toryboy….. Cragg Vale (I think), in Rebecca’s old stamping ground, has the longest continuous incline in the country I am told
I would be interested to hear more about what you, and our MEPs in general, are doing to improve transparency and accountability within the European Parliament. It’s my main reason for voting Lib Dem in Euros – we’re the only party that seems to take Europe seriously – but it’s not something I get a lot of feedback about.
@Dave: LibDem MEPs worked hard to tighten up the EP expense regime that resulted in changes including cost only reimbursement of travel and changes to the rules about employing staff so MEPs cannot administer salaries (the EP does this for Brussels staff, an accountant has to do this for local staff).
We would still like the EP to go further and we lead by example, for instance although we are not required to do so, LibDem MEPs publish details of how we spend the monthly allowance we receive to run our constituency offices (which is for rent, utilities, office equipment & supplies) and who we employ.
The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE – the political group to which the LibDems belong) is also currently pushing to reverse a decision made by the parliament’s leadership in relation to declaring hospitality see the following article for more details:
http://www.europeanvoice.com/article/imported/bid-to-tighten-rules-on-meps-declaring-gifts/74762.aspx
In general (and I speak as a former lobbyist) European Parliament decision making is pretty transparent as you can watch committee meetings and plenary sessions (including voting) live on the web and retroactively and virtually all documents are available to download in multiple languages. There is also a transparency register for the EU institutions see following link for more details:
http://europa.eu/transparency-register/index_en.htm.
What is not so transparent is how the Council (our governments) makes decisions and the Council co-legislates with the parliament in many areas.