European Parliament

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Executive Summary The European Parliament elections on 22 May 2014 come at a time when voter disenchantment with mainstream political parties is high; Euroscepticism fed by anti-EU parties is growing; and the electoral threat posed by the UK Independence Party threatens to infuse the political debate with anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim and xenophobic sentiments. The European Parliament is the only elected body in the EU machinery making an important avenue for the articulation of citizen interests and concerns over the direction of EU policymaking. With the implementation of the Lisbon Treaty, the European Parliament elections in 2014 will, for the first time, give EU citizens a say in the election of the European Commission President through the indirect election of the office by MEPs in the 2014-2019 Assembly. Beyond the wider implications of the election for the governance of the Eurozone economies; recession and bailouts, the 2014 election will have a considerable impact on the discourse on minorities in the EU, particularly Muslims, as far right parties across the continent mobilise to exploit anti-EU sentiment to further advance their anti-Muslim attitudes and policies. The threat of sufficient numbers of MEPs representing far right parties being elected and establishing a political grouping in the European Parliament is credible in the current climate. Moreover, as mainstream parties grapple with the electoral challenge posed by far right parties, like UKIP, on issues such immigration, the balance of power between Member States and Brussels, and the jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights over UK courts, the likelihood of far right ideas influencing the direction of mainstream discourse is a very real possibility. This manifesto presents information on the role of the EP in the EU’s decision making process, the threat of the far right, and policy areas where the EP has played a role in defending the Union’s fundamental rights on challenging racism, discrimination, and other forms of intolerance; as well as its contribution to foreign and security policy and the role of the EU as an actor in global affairs. A set of key pledges we are seeking from incumbent and prospective MEPs in the 2014 election are presented below: Islamophobia and Freedom of Religion

1. To resist the xenophobic, anti-minority sentiments espoused by far right parties and to uphold the EU’s fundamental values on respect for minorities, freedom of religion and protection against discrimination on grounds of race and religion, and other forms of intolerance. 2. To maintain the UK’s commitment to the Human Rights Act and the European Court of Human Rights as an essential defence against violations of the civil and political rights of citizens of Member States. 3. To assert support for the work of the EU’s Fundamental Rights Agency in documenting racism, xenophobia and other forms of intolerance in the EU, including Islamophobia and honouring commitments to implement recommendations by the FRA on the protection of citizens from discrimination on grounds of race or religion; public incitement of violence or hatred to groups defined by race or religion; preventing and combatting all forms of violence perpetrated on grounds of race, religion and other bias motivations in employment, education, housing and service provision. 4. To implement the recommendations of the FRA’s campaign on Victims’ rights as part of its strand of work on ‘Making Hate Crime Visible in the European Union’, including better recording of hate crime. 5. Uphold the right of citizens to freedom of religion, as protected under Article 9 of the European Con- vention on Human Rights, including in the provision of food (halal slaughter); in dress (hijab and niqab); and in religious observance (places of worship and circumcision). 6. To promote the ‘reasonable accommodation’ of religion in public life, including employment, and to tackle direct and indirect discrimination of individuals on grounds of religion. 7. To support the work of the FRA in compiling reports on the situation of Muslim minorities in the EU and to fulfil recommendations that promote equality and integration of European Muslim communities.

Copyright © iENGAGE - St Brides Chambers, 8 Salisbury Court, London EC4Y 8AA | Tel: 020 7871 8430 | www.iengage.uk.net 1 8. To support the work of the FRA in tackling new frontiers in anti-Muslim hate speech and hate crime, especially on social media platforms; working with Internet Service Providers and social media companies to develop a no-platform policy on anti-Muslim hate speech and to identify users who violate codes of conduct on incitement to hatred and hate crime.

Counter-terrorism, de-radicalisation and Muslims’ Civil and Political Rights

9. To promote inter-agency and transnational co-operation in challenging far right ideological movements and their targeting of Muslim communities across the EU. 10. To support the work of the Radicalisation Awareness Network and commit resources to tackling threats to security emanating from al-Qaida inspired groups, far right ideological movements, sectarian, ethno-national and other political-ideological movements with due regard for proportionality and threat level; and to avoid the stigmatisation and demonisation of Muslim communities when addressing al-Qaida inspired political violence and terrorism. 11. To ensure that necessary work in the area of security and counter-terrorism does not violate the civil and political rights of Muslim communities in Member States and that all necessary legal instruments comply with requirements of non-discrimination and proportionality (eg stop and search policies across the EU).

Global Human Rights promotion

12. Uphold legislation on the labelling of produce from the Occupied Palestinian Territories to enable consumers to make informed decisions in their purchase of food exported to the EU from territories under Israeli occupation. 13. Fulfil the EU’s commitment, through its role in the Quartet and the office of the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, to establish a two-state solution in the Israeli-Palestinian territories based on the 1967 borders and Jerusalem as a shared capital. 14. To encourage, through the office of the EU’s High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the participation of Hamas in any peace negotiations on Final Status issues to ensure a durable and sustainable peace. 15. To maintain diplomatic and economic pressure on Israel, through the bilateral instrument, EU-Israel Association Agreement, to comply with international law regarding the illegal settlements in the West Bank, house demolitions in East Jerusalem and lifting the blockade on Gaza. 16. To promote the EU’s values on human rights, the rule of law, respect for minorities and the protection of civil and political rights in its foreign and security policy through the office of the High Represen- tative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and the European External Action Service.

Copyright © iENGAGE - St Brides Chambers, 8 Salisbury Court, London EC4Y 8AA | Tel: 020 7871 8430 | www.iengage.uk.net 2 The European Parliament (EP) elections will take place in the UK on Thursday 22 May 2014. The EP is a directly elected chamber comprising of MEPs elected from all European Union Members States. There are currently 766 MEPs in the chamber. The elections in May 2014 will elect 751 MEPs to the new assembly. The newly elected MEPs will in turn elect the new President of the EU Commission, the person in charge of the EU’s executive body. By electing MEPs, EU citizens will not only be electing their representatives in the European Parliament, they will be casting a vote exercising their choice over the direction of the EU for the next term 2014-2019. The 2014 EP elections come at a time when far right groups across the EU have been successfully appealing to voters. Austerity measures and the economic downturn has led to a fall in living standards and a rise in unemployment across some EU members states. In the climate of economic recession, anti-immigrant and exclusionary rhetoric has been advancing. The elections also come at a time when confidence and trust in the EU system is declining across Member States. Parties actively promoting anti-EU platforms are increasing their appeal. Far right parties across the EU have seen an increase in their popularity with poll predictions showing that parties like the French National Front, Dutch Freedom Party (PVV) Austrian Freedom Party (FOP), to name a few, could make strong gains at the ballot box.1 The EP has tended to experience a democratic deficit with voter turnout characteristically low in some countries, including the UK. Voter turnout rates in 1999; 2004 and 2009 for the UK was 24%, 38.52% and 34.7% respectively. Low voter turnout undermines the legitimacy of the elected chamber and affects the connection voters feel towards European institutions, particularly one reliant on a mandate from the citizens of the EU’s Member States. The system of proportional representation used to elect MEPs offers far right and other marginal groups an opportunity to capitalise on low turnout and win seats. In 2009, two members of the British National Party were elected, leader Nick Griffin and Andrew Brons. MEPs are elected on a party list system with political parties ranking their candidates for each of the 12 regional constituencies. Voters cast one vote marking an ‘X’ against the party of their choice, or by the name of an individual candidate, if voting for an independent. The number of candidates that are elected from each party to represent the region in the European Parliament will depend upon the party’s share of the vote in that region. Table 1 shows the number of EP seats contested in each of the 12 regions and the number of seats won by each party. The EP is one of a number of institutions involved in the decision-making process of the European Union, the other two bodies being the European Commission and the Council of Ministers. The EP enjoys co-decision making power with the Council of the European Union (Council of Ministers) in a number of areas (co-decision making powers) in other areas, its role is consultative and not legislative. Areas in which the EP has co-decision powers include economic governance, immigration, energy, transport, environment, and consumer protection. The vast majority of European laws are adopted jointly by the European Parliament and the Council. The EP also enjoys ‘veto’ powers in certain areas such as association agreements and agreements governing accession to the European Union. Known as the ‘assent procedure’, the powers grant the EP the right of consent, meaning its approval is required by the Council before a policy may be adopted. Consent operates in both legislative and non-legislative contexts. As a legislative procedure, it is to be used when new legislation on combating discrimination is being adopted by the EU. The EP’s intervention in relation to combating discrimination is particularly relevant to the EU’s minority communities.

1. Austrian far-right set for strong showing in EU vote, EU Observer, 7 March 2014. Accessed online - available at: http://euobserver.com/ eu-elections/123166

Ulster Lib Plaid Sinn Con and Cons. Labour Dems UKIP Green SNP DUP Cymru Fein Unionists BNP Total

Eastern 3 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 East Midlands 2 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 London 3 2 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 North East 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 Northern Ireland 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 3 North West 3 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 8 Scotland 1 2 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 6 South East 4 1 2 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 10 South West 3 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 Wales 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 4 West Midlands 2 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 Yorkshire and Humber 2 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 6 Total 25 13 11 13 2 2 1 1 1 1 2 72

In areas where the EP’s role is consultative, the EP may approve or reject a legislative proposal from the European Commission, or propose amendments to it. The Council is not legally obliged to take account of Parliament’s opinion but in line with the case-law of the European Court of Justice, it must not proceed with a decision without consulting the EP. The European Commission, the body which initiates legislative proposals also consults the Committee of the Regions on policy areas to do with environment and the Economic and Social Committee on policy areas affecting social and economic policy. The European Court of Human Rights, which adjudicates in cases of suspected breaches of the rights enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights, is a supra-national institution and affects the legal jurisdictions of the EU’s Member States by virtue of their having adopted the Convention into domestic human rights law. In the UK, the jurisdiction of the ECHR over British courts has invited a degree of polarisation with politicians and commentariat inveighing against the court’s ‘interference’ in the British legal system.2 The proposed referendum on the UK’s membership of the European Union, which PM David Cameron has committed to take place in 2017, will have an impact on the role the ECHR plays as an appellant court for British citizens seeking to appeal decisions by UK courts on the breach of their civil and political rights.3 Cases in recent years which have invited much interest from British Muslims include Babar Ahmad, Syed Talha Ahsan and Abu Qatada. Once elected into the EP, MEPs form political groups based on their political affiliations. These groups must comprise of 25 MEPs and at least one-quarter of the Member States must be represented within the group. MEPs may not belong to more than one political group and some MEPs choose to sit outside political groups as ‘unattached’ Members. In the 2009 Assembly, there are 7 political groups. Members of far right parties in the EP have attempted to form a political group in order to enjoy the privileges that come with recognition, such as allotted speaking time during parliamentary debate, public funds to assist in the carrying out of public duties, use of the EU’s facilities and prestige. So far, there have been too few members elected into the EP to allow them to meet the requisite 25 MEPs needed to form a group. There is a very real danger of this obstacle being surmounted if in 2014, the far right successfully attract votes across the EU.

2 Conservatives promise to scrap Human Rights Act after next election, The Guardian, 1 October 2013 3 UK supreme court president wades into debate over European courts, The Guardian, 14 February 2014

Copyright © iENGAGE - St Brides Chambers, 8 Salisbury Court, London EC4Y 8AA | Tel: 020 7871 8430 | www.iengage.uk.net 4 The European Commission has sought to counter the possibility of far right groups enjoying public funds and parliamentary privileges by introducing new guidelines to prevent parties which undermine the fundamental principles on which the Union was founded, namely “liberty, democracy, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, and the rule of law” from receiving any.4 This month, the EP agreed regulations to register European political parties as legal entities, requiring compliance with EU obligations to advance transparency and stricter accounting on party donations and funding.5 The regulations also require political parties to abide by the values of the European Union as set out in Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union which states: The Union is founded on the values of respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities. These values are common to the Member States in a society in which pluralism, non-discrimination, tolerance, justice, solidarity and equality between women and men prevail. Table 2 shows the vote share of all the parties in the 2009 elections and the representatives elected for each of the regions. Table 3 shows the steady expansion in the membership of the EP with the accession of new states and revised seat allocations for existing members. Table 2

Eastern Candidates Party Vote Share Geoffrey Van Orden Conservative Robert Sturdy Conservative 31.21% Vicky Ford Conservative David Campbell Bannerman UKIP converted to Conservative 19.58% Stuart Agnew UKIP Andrew Duff Liberal Democrats 13.80% Richard Howitt Labour 10.47%

East Midlands Candidates Party Vote Share Roger Helmer Conservative converted to UKIP 30.15% Emma McClarkin Conservative Derek Roland Clark UKIP 16.45% Glenis Willmott Labour 16.85% William Francis Newton Dunn Liberal Democrats 12.33%

London Candidates Party Vote Share Charles Tannock Conservative Dr Syed Salah Kamall Conservative 27.36% Marina Yannakoudakis Conservative Claude Moraes Labour 21.28% Mary Honeyball Labour Baroness Sarah Ludford Liberal Democrats 13.72% Jean Lambert Green 10.88% Gerard Batten UKIP 10.76%

4 Ukip refuses to oppose EU funding for far-right parties, The Guardian, 27 January 2013 5 European political parties to get legal status, must abide by EU values, EU Observer, 19 March 2014

Copyright © iENGAGE - St Brides Chambers, 8 Salisbury Court, London EC4Y 8AA | Tel: 020 7871 8430 | www.iengage.uk.net 5 North East Candidates Party Vote Share Stephen Hughes Labour 24.98% Martin Callanan Conservative 19.82% Fiona Hall Liberal Democrats 17.57%

Northern Ireland Candidates Party Vote Share Bairbre de Brún Sinn Féin 26.04% replaced by Martina Anderson

Ulster Conservatives and Unionists - 17.11% Jim Nicholson New Force

Diane Dodds Democratic Unionist Party 18.23%

North West Candidates Party Vote Share Rt. Hon. Sir Robert Atkins Conservative Sajjad Haider Karim Conservative 25.62% Jacqueline Foster Conservative Arlene McCarthy Labour 20.39% Brian Simpson Labour Paul Nuttall UKIP 15.85% Chris Davies Liberal Democrats 14.27% Nick Griffin British National Party 8.00%

Scotland Candidates Party Vote Share Ian Hudghton Scottish National Party 29.06% Alyn Smith Scottish National Party David Martin Labour 20.81% Catherine Stihler Labour Struan Stevenson Conservative 16.82% George Lyon Liberal Democrats 11.50%

South East Candidates Party Vote Share Daniel Hannan Conservative Richard Ashworth Conservative 34.79% Njri Deva Conservative James Elles Conservative Marta Andreasen UKIP converted to Conservative 18.84% Nigel Farage UKIP Sharon Bowles Liberal Democrats 14.15% Catherine Zena Bearder Liberal Democrats Caroline Lucas Green 11.63% replaced by Keith Taylor Peter Skinner Labour 8.25%

Copyright © iENGAGE - St Brides Chambers, 8 Salisbury Court, London EC4Y 8AA | Tel: 020 7871 8430 | www.iengage.uk.net 6 South West Candidates Party Vote Share Giles Chichester Conservative Julie Girling Conservative 30.25% Ashley Peter Fox Conservative Bernard Trevor Colman UKIP 22.06% William (The Earl of) Dartmouth UKIP Sir Graham Watson Liberal Democrats 17.18%

Wales Candidates Party Vote Share Dr Kay Swinburne Conservative 21.21% Derek Vaughan Labour 20.28% Jill Evans Plaid Cymru 18.51% John Bufton UKIP 12.80%

West Midlands Candidates Party Vote Share Philip Bradbourn OBE Conservative Malcolm Harbour Conservative 28.08% Anthea McIntyre Conservative Mike Nattrass UKIP 21.26% converted to We Demand a Ref- Nicole Sinclaire UKIP erendum Michael Cashman Labour 17.00% Liz Lynne Liberal Democrats 12.05% replaced by Phil Bennion

Yorkshire and Humber Candidates Party Vote Share Edward McMillan-Scott Conservative converted to Liberal Democrats 24.45% Timothy Kirkhope Conservative Linda McAvan Labour 18.76% Godfrey Bloom UKIP 17.43% Diana Wallis Liberal Democrats 13.18% replaced by Rebecca Taylor Andrew Henry William Brons British National Party 9.79%

Sept. Mar. Jan. June Jan. Jan. June Jan. May June Jan. June May 1952 1957 1973 1979 1981 1986 1994 1995 2004 2004 2007 2009 2014

Germany 18 36 36 81 81 81 99 99 99 99 99 99 96

France 18 36 36 81 81 81 87 87 87 78 78 72 74

Italy 18 36 36 81 81 81 87 87 87 78 78 72 73

Belgium 10 14 14 24 24 24 25 25 25 24 24 22 21

Netherlands 10 14 14 25 25 25 31 31 31 27 27 25 26

Luxembourg 4 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6

United Kingdom 36 81 81 81 87 87 87 78 78 72 73

Denmark 10 16 16 16 16 16 16 14 14 13 13

Ireland 10 15 15 15 15 15 15 13 13 12 11

Greece 24 24 25 25 25 24 24 22 21

Spain 60 64 64 64 54 54 50 54

Portugal 24 25 25 25 24 24 22 21

Sweden 22 22 19 19 18 20

Austria 21 21 18 18 17 18

Finland 16 16 14 14 13 13

Poland 54 54 54 50 51

Czech Republic 24 24 24 22 21

Hungary 24 24 24 22 21

Slovakia 14 14 14 13 13

Lithuania 13 13 13 12 11

Latvia 9 9 9 8 8

Slovenia 7 7 7 7 8

Cyprus 6 6 6 6 6

Estonia 6 6 6 6 6

Malta 5 5 5 5 6

Romania 35 33 32

Bulgaria 18 17 17

Croatia 11

Total 78 142 198 410 434 518 567 626 788 732 785 736 751

Copyright © iENGAGE - St Brides Chambers, 8 Salisbury Court, London EC4Y 8AA | Tel: 020 7871 8430 | www.iengage.uk.net 8 Policy making in the European Union and the role of the EP The EU’s policy areas cover: agriculture; budget; budgetary control; civil liberties, justice and home affairs; constitutional and institutional affairs; culture and education; development; economic and monetary affairs; employment and social affairs; environment and public health; fisheries; foreign and security policy; gender equality; industry, research & energy; internal market and consumer protection; internal regulations of the European Parliament; international trade; legal affairs; regional development and transport and tourism.

Of these, the EP shares decision making power with the European Council in the following areas:

• Agriculture • Civil liberties (certain areas for freedom, • Justice and home affairs; • Culture and education; • Development; • Economic and monetary affairs (euro); • Employment and social affairs (equal opportunities, equal treatment and equal pay); Environment and public health; • Fisheries • Foreign and Security Policy • Industry, research & energy; • Internal market and consumer protection • International trade (agreements); • Legal affairs • Regional development (fund) and • Transport and tourism

Figure 1 illustrates the decision making process in the European Union and the role played by the EP. Figure 1 EU INSTITUTIONS

Economic and Social European Committee of Committee the Regions Council

Advises Provides guidance to European Council of Commission Ministers

Proposes European Co-decision

Joint legal new laws to Scrutinises makers Central Bank enforcement

Court of Justice European of the EU European Court

Parliament Reports to

of Auditors

Figure 2

UK JUDICIAL SYSTEM

European Court of Human International Law Rights

Supreme Court

CRIMINAL CIVIL

Court of Appeal Court of Appeal

Crown Court High Court of Justice

Magistrates Court County Courts

MEPs have been involved in various policy initiatives and recommendations during the 2009-2014 term including, for example, urging the EU to play a stronger role in lifting the blockade on Gaza; encouraging an impartial investigation into the murder of nine Turkish citizens on the Mavi Marmara in May 2010, as it sailed to Gaza on a humanitarian mission; challenging sweeping powers to ‘spy’ on EU citizens through the introduction of a “data compilation instrument” whose focus on ‘radicals’ instead of ‘terrorists’ would bring huge swathes of political activists under its purview; resisting the introduction of an EU wide passenger name records system, which would allow police enforcement agencies to track passenger itineraries deemed suspicious, on grounds of its probable breach of fundamental rights; rejecting a data sharing agreement with the US and calling for the suspension of an agreement on bank data-sharing in the wake of the NSA scandal on widespread surveillance by the US national security agency. Recent examples on the direction of voting by UK MEPs on issues pertaining to fundamental rights, respect for the right of free movement in the EU, Rights and Citizenship programme 2014-2020, religious slaughter and animal welfare and equality rights in employment, to name only a few salient issues to Muslims are illustrated in Table 4 below. Figures 3 and 4 below illustrate the party alliances formed in the European Parliament following the elections in 2004 and 2009.

2004 European Parliament

29 27 Group of the European People's Party (Christian 4% 37 4% Democrats) and European Democrats 5% Socialist Group in the European Parliament 41 5% 268 37% Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for 42 Europe 6% Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance

88 Confederal Group of the European United Left/ 12% Nordic Green Left Independence Democracy Group

Union for Europe of the Nations Group 200 27% Unaffiliated

Figure 4

2009 European Parliament

27 32 4% 35 4% Group of the European People's Party (Christian 5% Democrats)

54 265 Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and 7% 36% Democrats in the Europan Parliament Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe 55 8% Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance

European Conservatives and Reformists Group

84 11% Confederal Group of the European United Left - Nordic Green Left Europe of Freedom and Democracy Group 184 25% Unaffiliated

Copyright © iENGAGE - St Brides Chambers, 8 Salisbury Court, London EC4Y 8AA | Tel: 020 7871 8430 | www.iengage.uk.net 11 Figure 5 illustrates the changing party alliances formed in the EP by parties elected from the Member States and comprising of far left, left, centrist, right, far right groups and independents, or unattached members.

Figure 5

Party make-up of the European Parliament Political Groupings1999, 2004 in the Europeanand 2009 Parliament 1999, 2004 and 2009

265

184 88

268 200

53 54 55 175 232 27 42 32 37 44 23 35 41 18 27 49 32 29 1999 2004 2009 (626 MEPs) (732 MEPs) (736 MEPs)

1 European United Left/Nordic Green Left (1999-2009)

2 Greens/European Free Alliance (1999-2009)

3 Party of European Socialists (1999-2004)

4 Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the EP (2009)

5 Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (1999-2009)

6 European People's Party-European Democrats/EPP (Christian Democrats) (1999-2009)

7 Union for Europe of the Nations (1999-2004)

8 European Conservatives and Reformists (2009)

9 Independence-Democracy (1999-2004)

10 Europe of Freedom and Democracy Group (2009)

11 Unaffiliated

Copyright © iENGAGE - St Brides Chambers, 8 Salisbury Court, London EC4Y 8AA | Tel: 020 7871 8430 | www.iengage.uk.net 12 As a co-decision making body of the European Union in some policy areas, and enjoying legislative and non-legislative consultative power in others, the EP is an important actor in the EU. Moreover, as the EU and other European bodies, like the Fundamental Rights Agency and the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI), have been at the forefront of important developments in anti-racism policy and policies on tackling anti-Muslim discrimination, the European dimension and its impact on domestic policymaking on religious rights, anti-religious discrimination and civil and political liberties is hugely relevant. Furthermore, as a powerful regional actor in international politics, the EU’s role in global affairs is a further reason to take an interest in the EP elections. Whether you are interested in the EU’s rapprochement with Iran, resolution of the Middle East conflict, or the EU’s economic and diplomatic leverage in promoting civil rights in Burma, Turkey, Egypt or elsewhere, the EP is the only democratically elected body in the EU and therefore, an important chamber for citizens of the EU to articulate and advocate for their policy interests. The elections in May 2014 will be significant for a number of factors but the principal ones are: • Challenging far right populist parties • Reversing the trend of low voter turnout Of these factors, it is the first which is of greatest interest to Muslim communities in the UK and Europe. Figure 5 illustrates the distribution of parties in the European Parliament on the left-right spectrum. You can see the number of far right MEPs affiliated to the Europe of Freedom and Democracy group, and those who are unattached. Mainstream parties and the EU The Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat parties will all present manifestos for the European Parlia- ment elections which will set out the priorities their MEPs will work towards if elected.

The Conservative Party has already committed to a referendum in 2017 on the UK’s relationship with the European Union based on the negotiation of a new settlement between the UK and the EU. In an article written for the Daily Telegraph last month, the Prime Minister, David Cameron, set out seven key areas which Conservative MEPs will champion if elected to the EP in 20146:

• Powers flowing away from Brussels, not always to it; • National parliaments able to work together to block unwanted European legislation; • Businesses liberated from red tape and benefiting from the strength of the EU’s own market – the biggest and wealthiest on the planet – to open up greater free trade with North America and Asia; • Our police forces and justice systems able to protect British citizens, unencumbered by unnecessary interference from the European institutions, including the ECHR; • Free movement to take up work, not free benefits; • Support for the continued enlargement of the EU to new members but with new mechanisms in place to prevent vast migrations across the Continent; • Dealing properly with the concept of “ever closer union”, enshrined in the treaty, to which every EU country now has to sign up. It may appeal to some countries. But it is not right for Britain, and we must ensure we are no longer subject to it; The issues of the European Court of Human Rights and the migration of citizens from new Member States to the UK has often been reported in sensationalist form in the popular press with the debate at times taking on xenophobic and anti-Muslim overtones.7

6 David Cameron: my seven targets for a new EU, Daily Telegraph, 15 March 2014 7 Lord Neuberger, ‘The British and Europe’, Cambridge Freshfields Annual Law Lecture 2014,12 February 2014; Journalist lists 13 reasons for PCC complaint about Daily Mail, The Guardian, 23 January 2014; and Geoffrey Bindman QC, ‘Extradition: muddled, unjust, in desperate need of reform’, Open Democracy, 5 December 2012

Copyright © iENGAGE - St Brides Chambers, 8 Salisbury Court, London EC4Y 8AA | Tel: 020 7871 8430 | www.iengage.uk.net 13 The Labour Party and Liberal Democrats are committed to keeping the UK in the EU although the Labour Party has noted areas in which it would like to see reform including ‘Lengthening the transitional period during which restrictions can be curbed on immigration from new member states and making it easier to deport recent immigrants who have broken the law’. Anti-EU sentiment is certainly a problem for the EP elections this year but none more so than for its exploitation by far right groups who are seeking to use Euroscepticism as a means of advancing a racist, xenophobic and anti-Muslim agenda.

Far right populist parties across the EU have used the impact of the economic recession on living standards and access to social welfare to advance and popularise an anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim discourse.8

Far right movements have also agitated across some EU Member States to cement ties between movements promoting anti-Muslim bigotry and form a pan-European, or global entity. Whether we refer to the efforts of the leaders of the French National Front and Dutch Freedom Party, Marine Le Pen and Geert Wilders9, or the joint efforts of the Stop Islamization of America and Europe based ‘counter-jihad’ movements to create a global ‘counter-jihad movement’10, the steady popularisation of an anti-Muslim discourse across the EU is a great cause for concern.

To this mix is added the recent surge in popularity of the UK Independence Party which shares with some other far right parties a deeply entrenched antipathy for European institutions and firm anti-immigrant, anti-multiculturalism attitudes.

Furthermore, the proportional representation electoral system and the election of two members of the British National Party to the EP in 2009, has enticed other far right groups to consider contesting the European Parliament elections in the hope of replicating the BNP’s success.11 Groups such as Britain First, which is led by a former BNP councillor and Liberty GB, which is led by a former UKIP councillor and member of the short-lived British Freedom Party.12

UK Independence Party

The UK Independence Party, which has grown in popularity in the last 12 months, is a further challenge to British Muslims as it campaigns to translate its improved poll standing into seats in the European Parliament. In the 2013 local elections, the party fielded 1001 candidates for the 2,392 seats that were up for election in councils across England and Wales. That is more than thrice the 319 councillors fielded in local elections in 2012. An indication of the momentum the party is capitalising on in the run up to the EP elections this May. The party performed remarkably well in the elections with party leader, Nigel Farage, referring to the 140 council seats won and the average vote share of 25% as a ‘game-changer’. By the end of the year, UKIP had increased party membership by two thirds, from 19,500 to 32,500 and Farage predicted a ‘huge shake up’ in British politics in the May 2014 EP elections.

Below are results from by-elections held in the last two years which illustrate the growing electoral appeal of the UK Independence Party. In three of the four most recent by-elections, the party took second place in the ballot superseding the number of votes won by Conservative candidates. 1.72% 1.21% 4.96% Corby by election, November 2012

14.32% Labour 17,267 (48.41%) Conservative 9,476 (26.57%) 48.41% UKIP 5,108 (14.32%) LD 5,108 (4.96%) 26.57% BNP 614 (1.72%) English Democrats 432 (1.21%)

Labour Conservative UKIP LibDem BNP English Democrats Turnout: 44.78%

8 Political parties drive hate in EU, commission says, EU Observer, 29 January 2013 9 Far-right leaders Marine Le Pen and Geert Wilders in talks to form anti-Europe alliance, The Independent, 15 October 2015 10 Sweden “counter-jihad” rally outnumbered by anti-racists, Reuters, 4 August 2012 11 Britain First may fight European elections in May 2014,Digital Journal, 1 January 2014 and ‘English Defence League ‘to become political party and stand candidates in European elections’, says ‘Tommy Robinson’, The Independent, 11 October 2012 12 Liberty GB Euro Election Campaign Launch, Liberty GB website [online - available at: http://libertygb.org.uk/v1/index.php/home/root/news- libertygb/6237-the-campaign-starts-here-paul-weston-for-mep] Accessed 4 March 2014

Copyright © iENGAGE - St Brides Chambers, 8 Salisbury Court, London EC4Y 8AA | Tel: 020 7871 8430 | www.iengage.uk.net 15 9.82% Eastleigh by election, February 2013 32.06% LD 13,342 (32.06%) 25.37% UKIP 11,571 (27.8%) Conservative 10,559 (25.37%) Labour 4,088 (9.82%)

27.80%

Turnout: 52.68% LibDem UKIP Conservative Labour

2.90% 1.40%

South Shields by-election, May 2013 11.50% Labour 12,493 votes (50.4%) UKIP 5,988 votes (24%) Conservatives 2,857 votes (11.5%) 50.40% BNP 711 votes (2.9%) 24% LD 352 votes (1.4%)

Turnout 39.2% Labour UKIP Conservative BNP LibDem

3.00% Wythenshawe and Sale East by-election, February 2014 4.90% Labour 13,261 (55.3%) UKIP 4,301 (18%) Conservatives 3,479 (14.5%) 14.50% LD 1,176 (4.9%) BNP 708 (3.0%) 55.30% 18%

Turnout: 28%

Labour UKIP Conservative LibDem BNP

In a study published in March 2014 on the appeal of UKIP to British voters, the three main reasons given by pollsters for supporting UKIP were: Euroscepticism, hostility to immigration and dissatisfaction with established politics with 20 percent of voters expressing all three motives and 30 percent agreeing with two of the three motives. The results suggest that UKIP’s appeal to the average voter is much greater than polls indicate.13 It also suggests that mainstream parties will have to address voter anxieties on Europe, immigration and disenfranchisement if they are to draw voters back.

A Guardian/ICM poll in February on voter intention for the EP elections in May put UKIP on 20%, ahead of the Lib Dems on 9% and behind Labour, 35% and Conservatives on 25%.14 A YouGov poll in January 2014

13 Ford, R and M. Goodwin. Revolt on the Right: Explaining Support for the Radical Right in Britain. Routledge, 2014. 14 One in five could vote Ukip in European elections, ICM poll shows,The Guardian, 10 February 2014

Copyright © iENGAGE - St Brides Chambers, 8 Salisbury Court, London EC4Y 8AA | Tel: 020 7871 8430 | www.iengage.uk.net 16 put UKIP in second place with voter intention at 26% behind Labour on 32% and ahead of the Conservatives on 23%.

UKIP’s growing electoral base of support led to the decision by Ofcom in favour of the airing of party political broadcasts by the party on ITV and Channel 5. Ofcom stated that given UKIP’s “significant aggregate support across England, Wales and Scotland” the party ought to be treated as a mainstream party warranting two election broadcasts in the run up to the European elections. The new ruling, which does not apply to the local and London council elections also taking place in May, does apply to the European parliament elections. It also means that news and editorial coverage of the EP elections must treat UKIP as a ‘major party’.15

For Muslims, the three motives given by voters for supporting UKIP over other mainstream parties are particularly salient because anti-immigration and anti-EU attitudes usually align with anti-Muslim views and denigration of the role of the European Court of Human Rights in protecting civil liberties against state encroachment, for example in the area of counter-terrorism and human rights.

UKIP, which currently has 9 MEPs in the EP, recently voted against the guidelines advanced by the European Commission to prevent political parties which do not uphold the EU’s principles from enjoying access to public funds.

UKIP under its previous leader, Lord Pearson of Rannoch, supported a ban on the burqa in public buildings though under its current leader, Nigel Farage, this policy has been ditched.16 Farage, in interviews this year admitted to scrapping the proposals contained in the party’s 2010 manifesto though this has not been sufficient to dispel deep seated anxieties about the party’s commitment to anti-discrimination and anti-racism policies.17

In recent elections, including local elections held in the UK in 2012 and 2013, a number of UKIP councillors have been found to espouse anti-Muslim views. Others have been uncovered to have National Front backgrounds, even though UKIP’s constitution expressly forbids members of far right movements and organisations from taking up UKIP membership.

At the party’s Spring conference last month, a member posed the question: ‘How can you possibly be a Muslim and an Englishman?’18 The issue came to light when journalists were denied entry to a fringe meeting at the UKIP Spring conference where the topic for discussion was Shari’ah law.19 It is evident that the party was keen not to invite press coverage of unpalatable views, the same it has repeatedly claimed to weed out.

The party has most recently been accused by the BNP of poaching ‘our slogan, our policies’ after UKIP unveiled its campaign theme for the EP elections, ‘Love Britain, Vote UKIP’.20 The BNP used the slogan, ‘Love Britain, Vote BNP’ in its 2010 campaign.

A number of UKIP councillors and supporters have been investigated in recent months after comments posted on social media sites have come to attention. Among cases to have been investigated and prosecuted are:

Chris Pain, Lincolnshire

UKIP councillor for Lincolnshire council, Chris Pain, was investigated over alleged racist comments posted on his Facebook page:

“Have you noticed that if you rearrange the letters in ‘illegal immigrants’, and add just a few more letters, it spells, ‘Go home you free-loading, benefit-grabbing, resource-sucking, baby-making, non-English-speaking ********* and take those other hairy-faced, sandal-wearing, bomb-making,

15 ITV and Channel 5 forced to show UKIP parliamentary election broadcasts, The Guardian, 3 March 2014 16 UKIP makes ‘ban the burka’ call, BBC News, 4 May 2010 17 Nigel Farage: 2010 UKIP manifesto was ‘drivel’, BBC News, 24 January 2014 18 ‘UKIP leader Nigel Farage says he feels awkward when he doesn’t hear English on the train’, Daily Mail, 28 February 2014 19 UKIP tries to remove journalists from fringe meeting on sharia law, New Statesman, 28 February 2014 [online: available at - http://www. newstatesman.com/politics/2014/02/ukip-tries-remove-journalists-fringe-meeting-sharia-law] 20 Angry BNP accuse UKIP of stealing Love Britain slogan, The Times, 28 February 2014 Copyright © iENGAGE - St Brides Chambers, 8 Salisbury Court, London EC4Y 8AA | Tel: 020 7871 8430 | www.iengage.uk.net 17 camel-riding, goat-********, raghead ******** with you.”21

Lincolnshire police dropped the investigation confirming that a paper trail did not conclusively point to Pain having authored the comments. Pain maintained that his social media account had been hacked.

Eric Kitson, Worcestershire

Eric Kitson, former UKIP councillor for Stourport, Worcestershire, was investigated over comments and car- toons posted on his Facebook page which showed of “a Muslim being spit-roasted on a fire fuelled by copies of the Koran” and, a further post relating to Muslim women with the caption “Hang um all first then ask questions later.”22

The case was dropped by West Midlands CPS on grounds that the ‘evidential standard’ to secure a prosecution was not met.

Tony Nixon, North Yorkshire

Tony Nixon, a former UKIP canvasser in the North Yorkshire region was suspended from the party after comments posted on his Facebook page were discovered. In the posts, Nixon wrote:

“Instead of turning Ground Zero into a mosque why not turn some mosques into ground zero?”

He also posted a number of offensive images including a photograph of pigs eating copies of the Koran”23

Nixon was suspended from the party in May 2013 while subject to an internal investigation.

Chris Scotton, Leicestershire

UKIP candidate for Leicester City Council elections, Chris Scotton, was suspended from the party after his sympathy for far right organisations on social media platforms became public knowledge.24

Scotton had ‘liked’ a series of controversial organisations on Facebook including the extremist English Defence League, a site claiming racism was just “ethnic banter” and a group talking about “losing a black friend in the dark”.25

Susan Bowen, Cornwall

Susan Bowen, UKIP candidate for the Tintagel ward in Cornwall was evicted from the party when it was revealed that she was a former member of the BNP.26

Cavan Vines, Rotherham

Cavan Vines was elected to Rotherham City Council in the 2013 local elections. Vines was alleged to have posted an anti-Muslim comment on his blog:

“Muslims go to war warring [sic] the same cloths as ordinary people who they hide behind they cover their faces, they hide behind women and children they set up rocket launches in school yards they use children to push wheel barrows into crowds and soldiers then detonate it killing innocent people SO WHO ARE THE COWARDS.”27

21 Lincolnshire UKIP councillor Chris Pain removed as group leader, BBC News, 11 September 2013 22 Shamed ex Ukip councillor Eric Kitson to face no charges over offensive Facebook comments, Express & Star, 5 July 2013 23 Former North Yorkshire Ukip canvasser arrested over racist Facebook posts, Northern Echo, 8 June 2013 24 UKIP candidate barred over his far-right links, The Times, 28 April 2013 25 UKIP leader Nigel Farage facing calls to kick out racists, The Mirror, 28 April 2013 26 BNP members ‘slipped into Ukip’, Daily Express, 26 April 2013 27 UKIP councillor Cavan Vines elected in Rotherham, BBC News, 17 May 2013

Steve Moxon, UKIP candidate for the Sheffield City Council wrote on his blog that Anders Breivik’s thesis on Islam was accurate. Moxon was stripped of his candidacy by the party.28

Julia Gaspar, Oxford

Julia Gaspar, an Oxford council UKIP candidate was found in email exchanges to refer to the Qur’an as ‘worse than Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf’.

In the emails, seen by Political Scrapbook, Gaspar wrote:

“Why is it any more wrong to assert that the Koran is a fascist book than to assert that Mein Kampf is a fascist book? The Koran is a lot more explicit in advocating hate and murder than Mein Kampf is.”

“Words like “demonization” are just self-deception. They are being used to persuade you to keep your eyes shut. In fact, the apologists for Islam are really very similar to Holocaust deniers.”29

Paul Wiffen, London

Paul Wiffen, UKIP candidate for the Ilford South seat in the 2010 general election, was suspended as parliamentary candidate after posting this comment on a blog about asylum:

“You left-wing scum are all the same, wanting to hand our birthright to Romanian gypsies who beat their wives and children into begging and stealing money they can gamble with, Muslim nutters who want to kill us and put us all under medieval Sharia law, the same Africans who sold their Afro-Caribbean brothers into a slavery that Britain was the first to abolish (but you still want to apologize for!)”30

Gerard Batten, London

UKIP MEP Gerard Batten, representing the London region, espoused support for a ‘Charter on Muslim Understanding’, authoring the foreword to the document. The Charter requires Muslims to sign up to a commitment to denounce terrorism and render verses of the Qur’an which deal with “violent physical Jihad” as “inapplicable, invalid and non-Islamic” until such a time as Islamic scholars are able to interpret them in line with prevailing liberal democratic norms.

The Charter, consisting of five articles, includes this one, Article 5:

“[A]ll Qur’anic Jihad verses encouraging physical violence, whether implicit or explicit, or any other quotations from any Islamic source, be that Sunnah or the sayings of the Prophet or that of the learned scholars or leaders of Jihad at any given time of place are to be regarded as inapplicable, invalid and non-Islamic.

“All Qur’anic verses that could be regarded as inciting discrimination on the grounds of religion, ethnicitiy or gender are just historical and will be regarded as non-effective for today’s world

“These verses will be either deferred or suspended until such time as scholars find a solution for their interpretation”.31

In further evidence of the UKIP MEP’s attitudes on Muslims, The Guardian featured a campaign video in which Batten can be heard advancing policies such as, “refus[ing] all planning applications for mosques in London until there is a place of non-Muslim worship in Mecca and Medina”.

He goes on to say it was “a big mistake to allow this explosion in mosques across the land” claiming “[it is] 28 Sheffield UKIP candidate removed over Breivik blog post,BBC News, 1 May 2012 29 UKIP candidate: ‘Koran is worse than Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf’, Political Scrapbook, 1 May 2013. [online, available at - http://politi- calscrapbook.net/2012/05/ukip-julia-gasper-compares-quran-koran-mein-kampf/]. Accessed, 4 March 2014 30 UKIP candidate suspended over racist comments, Liberal Democrat Voice, 4 April 2010 31 Proposed code of conduct for British Muslims commissioned by Ukip MEP Gerard Batten – full document, The Guardian, 4 February 2014

In another damning indictment of his anti-Muslim views, The Guardian published a draft policy paper authored by Batten, ‘Confidential draft – Dismantling Multiculturalism’, in which he argues “Islamic fundamentalism is the cuckoo in the western multicultural nest. We can either address it now or be destroyed by it in the course of time.”

In the policy draft document, Batten advances policies such as:

“Repeal the act of parliament that gives exception for ritual slaughter for religious reasons. These are outmoded and barbaric practices that have no place in the 21st century or in the light of humane animal welfare policies.”

“Repeal the Act (???) that gives official recognition to Islamic banking”.33

Batten represented the UK at a ‘counter-jihad’ conference hosted in the European Parliament and Flemish parliament in 2007, appearing alongside noted Islamophobes Robert Spencer and Dr Patrick Sookhdeo and author of the Charter on Muslim Understanding, Sam Solomon. The Brussels Journal noted the conference proceedings as ‘anti-islamisation experts and activists from the fourteen European countries presented reports on the current state of Islamisation and jihadism in their nations, and citizen efforts to mount a defense of constitutional liberties and national sovereignty.’34

Batten will be defending his seat for the London region in 2014 as UKIP’s first placed candidate on the party list.35

Godfrey Bloom

Godfrey Bloom, former UKIP MEP for Yorkshire and Humber, was forced out of the party following disparag- ing remarks made about women and people of racial backgrounds at the party’s autumn conference last year.

Bloom had made other, similar remarks at a meeting the previous month where he criticised the UK’s international aid budget going to “bongo bongo land”. He said, “How we can possibly be giving a billion pounds a month when we’re in this sort of debt to bongo bongo land is completely beyond me.

“To buy Ray-Ban sunglasses, apartments in Paris, Ferraris and all the rest of it that goes with most of the foreign aid. F18s for Pakistan. We need a new squadron of F18s. Who’s got the squadrons? Pakistan, where we send the money.”36

His altercation with a journalist at the party conference and use of the word ‘sluts’ to describe a roomful of women proved to be the last straw and his party membership revoked. Farage has stated the party’s determination to weed out ‘Walter Mitty’ type candidates ahead of the 2014 elections, by introducing rigorous checks and psychometric tests to ‘professionalise’ the party, as well as reaching out to minority voters by visiting mosques and temples but the efforts will do little to quell disquiet over the party’s suspected racist and anti-ethnic minority attitudes.37

A report published in The Guardian newspaper highlighted some of the racist and anti-Muslim remarks made by members of the political group, Europe of Freedom and Democracy (EFD), which UKIP sits alongside in the EP.38

Among anti-Muslim actions and comments attributed to members of the EFD include:

32 Ukip MEP Gerard Batten warns of ‘explosion of mosques’ across Europe, The Guardian, 4 February 2014 33 Ukip MEP who supported Muslim code of conduct urged halal slaughter ban, The Guardian, 6 February 2014 34 ‘Counterjihad Brussels 2007: European Conference Resists Islamization’, The Brussels Journal, 19 October 2007 35 Ukip MEP says British Muslims should sign charter rejecting violence, The Guardian, 4 February 2014 36 Ukip MEP Godfrey Bloom criticises aid to ‘bongo bongo land’, The Guardian, 7 August 2013 37 UKIP holds meetings to win over British Asians, BBC News, 21 September 2013 38 ‘Ukip faces questions about its far-right friends in Europe’, The Guardian, 10 March 2014

Francesco Speroni, MEP for Lega Nord, has spoken in support of Anders Breivik saying “If [Breivik’s] ideas are that we are going towards Eurabia and those sorts of things, that western Christian civilisation needs to be defended, yes, I’m in agreement.”

Magdi Cristiano Allam, Italy

Magdi Cristiano Allam, MEP for the I Love Italy party and a Muslim convert to Christianity, argues Islam is not a religion but an ideology “that preaches hatred, violence and death, but that is something we’re not allowed to say”.

In a column in Italian daily, Il Giornale, Allam who converted to Catholicism before choosing to leave the Catholic Church stated his reasons for departing as the Church’s “religious relativism, in particular the legitimization of Islam as true religion”. He wrote, “Islam is an inherently violent ideology, as it has historically been conflictual inside and belligerent outside. Even more I am increasingly convinced that Europe will eventually be submitted to Islam, as has already happened from the seventh century to the other two sides of the Mediterranean, if it does not have the vision and the courage to denounce the incompatibility of Islam with our civilization and the fundamental rights of the person, if it does not ban the Koran for apology of hatred, violence and death against non-Muslims, if it does not condemn Sharia law as a crime against humanity in that it preaches and practices the violation of the sanctity of everyone’s life, the equal dignity of men and women, and religious freedom, and finally if it does not block the spread of mosques.”39

Allam’s column is approvingly posted on the website of Liberty GB by EP prospective candidate Enza Ferreri.40

Slavi Binev, Bulgaria

Slavi Binev MEP from Bulgaria and member of the National Front for the Salvation of Bulgaria, features in a video on his website saying: “If Osama bin Laden symbolises the cruellest aspect of the Islam for the Americans, then the Muslim woman with her numerous children are his European equivalent.”

Binev, campaigning in the Bulgarian municipal elections in 2007, opposed a mosque proposal in the capital Sofia, saying ‘A new mosque? No way? This is a European capital, not an Asian one.’ He also promised to ban the call for prayer, if elected.41

Philippe de Villiers, France

Another EFD member is Viscount Philippe de Villiers, leader of the Mouvement pour la France (MPF), and author of the book ‘The Mosques of Roissy’ which peddles the myth of Islamisation claiming ‘France has been virtually taken hostage, but she doesn’t know it yet’.42

Frank Vanhecke

Frank Vanhecke is an MEP from Belgium and former chairman of the far right Vlaams Belang party.

Vanhecke was arrested in 2007, alongside fellow VB member Filip Dewinter, during a protest against the ‘Islamisation of Europe’ held in the Belgian capital on the sixth anniversary of 9/11.

Vanhecke left VB in 2011 and has stated his intention not to stand in the 2014 EP elections.

39 ‘Perché me ne vado da questa Chiesa debole con l’islam’, Il Giornale, 25 March 2013. 40 Either Europe will become Christian again or it will become Muslim, Liberty GB website. [online - available at: http://libertygb.org.uk/v1/ index.php/home/root/news-libertygb/5822-either-europe-will-become-christian-again-or-it-will-become-muslim]. Accessed on 7 March 2014. 41 ‘Cultural Cleansing?’, Institute of Race Relations European Race Bulletin. Winter 2008, p.5 42 ‘Cultural Cleansing?’, Institute of Race Relations European Race Bulletin. Winter 2008, p.5

UKIP’s alliance with the EFD in the knowledge of comments attributed to some of its members, and the unearthing of racist and anti-Muslim tendencies among candidates standing for the party on local and national elections, as well as European elections, will do little to assuage fears that UKIP is the BNP in another guise.

Despite party leader Nigel Farage’s declaration to weed out candidates that bring the party into disrepute ahead of the 2014 elections, in response to media scrutiny of the party’s allies in Europe a party spokesperson said:

“The EFD group is a loose marriage of convenience formed in order to get more speaking time in the

European parliament. “Ukip is a libertarian party which condemns racism and xenophobia. The party does not share a common political platform with others involved in the EFD.”

Such a response is clearly inadequate when one considers the extreme Islamophobic attitudes expressed by members of the EFD or the designation of Gerard Batten as top candidate on the party list for the London region.

The BNP won two seats in the EP 2009 elections, securing one seat respectively in Yorkshire and Humber and the North West regions. In both cases, its share of the vote was less than 10%. The BNP won fewer votes in 2009 than it polled in the 2004 election, but low voter turnout translated these votes into two victories.

• Nick Griffin was elected for the North West region with 943,598 votes (6.2%).

• Andrew Brons was elected for the Yorkshire and Humber region with 120,139 (9.8%).

The party now boasts only one member, leader Nick Griffin. Former member, Andrew Brons, resigned from the party in October 2012.

The BNP’s share of the vote from 1999 to 2009 in each region is shown below. Table 4, below, illustrates the change in the percentage share of the vote between 2004 and 2009 and between 1999 and 2004, the two most recent EP elections.

Table 4

+ % point difference: + % point difference: 2004-2009 2009 2004 1999 1999-2004

East Midlands: 2.17 8.7 6.53 1.29 5.24 East of England 1.76 6.1 4.34 0.94 3.4 London: 0.9 4.9 4 1.57 2.43 North East: 2.5 8.9 6.4 0.91 5.49 North West: 1.6 8 6.4 1.34 5.06 South East: 1.5 4.4 2.9 0.81 2.09 South West: 0.9 3.9 3 0.94 2.06 West Midlands: 1.1 8.6 7.5 1.69 5.81 Yorkshire and the Humber: 1.79 9.79 8 1.2 6.8 Wales: 2.4 5.4 3 0 3 Scotland: 0.85 2.5 1.65 0.38 1.27

The column on the left shows the percentage difference in the BNP share of the vote between 2004 and 2009 while the column on the right shows the difference between 1999 and 2004. The table shows that while the increase between 2004 and 2009 has been much smaller in most cases than the increase in the BNP vote in the preceding election, low turnout in the 2009 election did not deter the small percentage difference from making a significant impact on outcomes. Though the BNP increased its vote share significantly in the years 1999-2004, the change was felt more acutely in 2009 when two BNP members were elected.

The BNPs electoral fortunes since 2009 have been in steep decline, evidenced in the loss of a huge number of council seats in the 2011 and 2012 local elections. While the party does not represent the electoral threat it did in 2009, the absorption of its xenophobic, anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim attitudes by other far right parties means the challenge to Muslims has merely morphed, not disintegrated.

For examples of the BNP’s anti-Muslim attitudes, consider this; the policies advanced in its 2010 General Election manifesto in the section ‘Counter Jihad: Confronting the Islamic Colonisation of Britain’:

• The BNP is implacably opposed to the Labour/Tory regime’s mass immigration policies which, if left unchecked, will see Britain and most of Europe colonised by Islam within a few decades.

• The BNP believes that the historical record shows that Islam is by its very nature incompatible with modern secular western democracy.

Copyright © iENGAGE - St Brides Chambers, 8 Salisbury Court, London EC4Y 8AA | Tel: 020 7871 8430 | www.iengage.uk.net 23 • The BNP will ban the burka, ritual slaughter and the building of further mosques in Britain.

• The BNP believes that there should be absolutely no further immigration from any Muslim countries, as it presents one of the most deadly threats yet to the survival of our nation.

• We propose the immediate deportation of all radical Islamist preachers, those proven to have attended any of their inflammatory sermons, and any other members of their community who object to these reasonable security measures.

• The BNP is the only party to identify correctly the twin causes of Islamist terrorism in Britain: (a) mass immigration and (b) a biased British foreign policy which serves to incite Muslims living in Britain.43

For the 2011 Scottish Assembly elections, the BNP advanced the following policy proposals in its manifesto:

• We are committed to ban the horrific practice of Halal ritual slaughter anywhere in Scotland on the grounds of animal cruelty. In addition we will end the supply use and distribution of all Halal ritual slaughter derived products by all publicly funded organisations within Scotland.

• This will include schools and educational establishments where Halal products are currently provided without the knowledge or consent of parents and children.44

• As a matter of policy, we would oppose planning applications to build or convert buildings into non-indigenous cultural or religious centres.45

BNP leader, Nick Griffin, on the night of his election victory in 2009 said on Sky News:

“This is a Christian country and Islam is not welcome, because Islam and Christianity, Islam and democracy, Islam and women’s rights do not mix.

“That’s a simple fact that the elites of Europe are going to have to get their heads round and deal with over the next few years.”

In a Channel 4 interview, discussing his new position as MEP and his support for far right Dutch politician, Geert Wilders, Griffin said:

“Western values, freedom of speech, democracy and rights for women are incompatible with Islam, which is a cancer eating away at our freedoms and our democracy and rights for our women and something needs to be done about it”.46

The activities of the BNP in recent years has involved protests against mosques and Islamic centres, protests against Muslim schools, protests in front of abattoirs against halal slaughter and exploiting criminal cases on child sex grooming and abuse to protest against criminal courts brandishing placards against ‘Muslim paedophilia’.

Though the BNP’s political donations have increased in recent years, party leader, Nick Griffin, was declared bankrupt earlier this year.47 But as he was quick to point out in a statement on the party’s website, his personal financial fortunes would not deter him from defending his seat in the upcoming elections or hinder him from leading the party in elections this year.48 43 Democracy, Freedom, Culture and Identity: British National Party General Elections Manifesto, 2010. p.5 44 The Voice of Ordinary People: Scotland General Eleciton Manifesto, 2011. p. 20 45 The Voice of Ordinary People: Scotland General Eleciton Manifesto, 2011. p. 22 46 Channel 4 News, 9 July 2009 47 BNP ‘back on track’ after bequests boost far-right war chest, Politics.co.uk, 20 February 2013 [online, available at: http://www.politics.co.uk/ news/2013/02/20/bnp-back-on-track-after-bequests-boost-far-right-warchest] and Political party donations, year end 2013, iENGAGE, 19 Febru- ary 2014 [online, available at: http://iengage.uk.net/news/political-party-donations-year-end-2013/ 48 Nick Griffin declared bankrupt but will still stand for BNP in MEP elections,The Guardian, 3 January 2014

Other small parties on the far right which hope to contest the elections this year, Britain First and Liberty GB, are both led by men who have a history of involvement in far right parties.

Britan First

Britain First, which is led by Paul Golding, who aside from his BNP affiliation, also leads the English National Resistance (ENR), has engaged in various activities demonstrative of his anti-Muslim bias such as a Downing Street protest about ‘justice for victims of Muslim grooming’ and a protest against the NWK Muslim Association Crayford over its separate mosque entrances for men and women; referred to by the ENR leader as ‘gender apartheid’.

In a statement posted on the Britain First website declaring the party’s intent to contest seats in the EP election, the party’s objectives vis a vis Muslims and Islam is put as follows:

“With the proven demographic shift, the Islamic population explosion and our rapidly aging and diminishing British population, coupled with the treacherous activities of our wretched political leaders, we are on the very edge of the extinction of the British people, and if that happens it will be all over for us.”

“We would roll out campaigns in areas where there are no hardline/no-nonsense pro-British candidates who dare to push forward the real pressing issues such as grooming gangs, Islamic extremism, British jobs for British workers, houses for Brits, and real opposition to the EU.”

Britain First has most recently been campaigning in areas of the North West, where Golding is standing in the EP election, distributing inflammatory literature on ‘Muslim grooming gangs’. The literature, part of the BF’s ‘Muslim Grooming: Britain’s Secret Shame’ campaign, is being distributed in towns such as Oldham, Rochdale, Bolton and Burnley with the far right party targeting ‘mega’ mosques. In video footage posted on the Britain First website, Golding says “These areas we are going through now are absolutely 100 per cent colonised by Muslims.”49

Liberty GB

Paul Weston, who leads Liberty GB, stood as a UKIP councillor for Cities of London and Westminster in the 2010 local elections.50 He is also a former Chairman of the British Freedom Party, which ran from October 2010 to December 2012 until it was deregistered by the Electoral Commission.51 In its manifesto for the EP elections, advances a range of policies in relation to restrictions it would introduce which would affect the right to freedom of religion for Muslims. A sample of these policies are presented below:

Prohibit all manifestations of sharia law and all dissemination and advocacy of sharia law. Abolish sharia courts where they exist. Everyone in Britain must live under British law

• Ban the Islamic call to prayer and worship in shared public spaces such as streets or car parks

• Outlaw shariah-compliant financial instruments

• Outlaw Islamic state ownership of sensitive Western assets such as stock exchanges, ports, security firms, defence contractors and others

• Declare that Islam is incompatible with 21st century, secular, liberal democracy

49 Fascist group entering mosques and handing out inflammatory literature,Asian Image, 21 March 2014 and Far-right group Britain First told to ‘stay out of Blackburn’, Blackburn Citizen, 14 March 2014 50 Interview: Paul Weston, Politics.co.uk, 5 May 2010. [online - available at: http://www.politics.co.uk/comment-analysis/2010/5/5/interview-paul-weston]. 51 British Freedom Party de-registered as an electoral body, The Exeter Daily, 19 December 2012.

• Provide support and protection for modernising Islamic clerics and scholars to redefine the tenets of their faith so as to bring it into line with the modern West

• Obtain reciprocity from all Islamic countries with respect to the building of churches/ syna- gogues there. Failure to comply will result in the closure of UK mosques

• Obtain reciprocal rights for foreigners visiting Islamic countries including freedoms related to dress codes, food and liquor consumption, property ownership, right to worship and others

• Abolish ‘hate speech’ laws, which are used to gag criticism of multiculturalism and Islam

Liberty GB will be fielding three candidates in the South East region, Paul Weston, Enza Ferreri and Jack Buckby. Summarising the essence of Liberty GB’s campaign for the EP elections, the website states its purpose as:

‘Most importantly, they will be presenting to voters Liberty GB’s demand for the complete removal of Islam from Britain and Europe.’52

52 Liberty GB Euro Election Campaign Launch, Liberty GB website [online - available at: http://libertygb.org.uk/v1/index.php/home/root/news- libertygb/6237-the-campaign-starts-here-paul-weston-for-mep] Accessed 4 March 2014

Voter turnout in the EP elections has been on a steady downward trend since 1979 as illustrated in the graph below. Voter turnout levels in the UK have consistently been lower than the EU average. Following a peak in 2004, the turnout fell in 2009 to below 40%.

Turnout in the EP elections across the regions can be seen in figure 6 which also illustrates the percentage share of the vote of far right parties in the 2009 elections.

Low voter turnout affects the democratic mandate of the European Parliament and feeds the sense of alienation voters feel about EU decision-making and EU institutions.

Low voter turnout also offers an invaluable opportunity to far right groups to enter the European Parliament. Low voter turnout coupled with the proportional representation system which allocates seats to parties according to their share of the vote.

Figure 6

Voter Turnout 1979 - 2009 70

0 1979 1984 1989 1994 1999 2004 2009

UK turnout EU average

In the 2009 EP elections, the BNP won two seats, one in the North West and one in Yorkshire and Humber. In both cases, its share of the vote was less than 10%.

• Nick Griffin was elected for the North West region with 943,598 votes (6.2%).

• Andrew Brons was elected for the Yorkshire and Humber region with 120,139 (9.8%).

In the 2014 elections, a number of far right parties will be contesting the election hoping to replicate the BNP’s success. Among them, the English Democrats, Britain First and Liberty GB. From the percentage share of the vote received by the BNP in the 2009 elections, it would seem that any of these far right parties may not even need to pass the 10% threshold to win a seat in the EP.

There is a further fear that efforts to unite the far right in the European Parliament into a single political group will be made easier should their numbers increase. Forming a political group, with the requisite 25 members drawn from a quarter of the Member States represented, would bring privileges such as securing access to speaking time in set-piece debates in the chamber, additional funding for promotional activities in home constituencies as well as additional staff to assist with workload.

Analysis of the probable rise in far right representation in the EP 2014 elections has, notably, highlighted the obstacles that will need to be surmounted in order for any such single political group to hold together.

Copyright © iENGAGE - St Brides Chambers, 8 Salisbury Court, London EC4Y 8AA | Tel: 020 7871 8430 | www.iengage.uk.net 27 In its report on voting behaviour of the extant far right parties and their contribution to policy debates in the 2009 Assembly, Counterpoint observe in the report ‘Conflicted Politicians’ that the far right “may well have little influence over the policy-making process” despite their increased numbers.53

There is also consideration of the declining appeal of the BNP in the UK with the party’s showing in the 2011 and 2012 local elections leading to a ‘political meltdown’ as it faced considerable losses.

Key milestones in the BNP’s electoral fortunes were 2006, 2007 and 2008 when the party won 30, 10 and 15 seats respectively bringing their total to 55 councillors in England, Scotland and Wales.

It was the strong showing in local elections in these years that provided an appetite to contest the EP elections in 2009. But subsequent local election results have led to the near disintegration of the BNP vote with internal party wrangling further fragmenting the party’s voter appeal.

In the 2011 local elections, in which the BNP was defending 13 council seats, it lost 11.54 In the 2012 local elections, in which the party was defending six seats, it lost all six.55

None of this, however is reason for complacency in the upcoming elections. The BNP’s decline has in recent years been met with the growth of a similar strain of anti-Muslim prejudice in the form of other minor parties, the English Democrats, Liberty GB, Britain First and the prospect of the English Defence League forming a political party. Not to mention the more credible threat posed by the UK Independence Party.

The table below illustrates turnout in the 2009 election, the percentage share of the vote won by far right parties (combined) and Muslims as a proportion of the electorate in the 12 EP constituencies excluding Northern Ireland. The table illustrates the importance of every single Muslim vote and the necessity of building alliances with anti-racist groups to ensure the far right are not able to capitalise on low voter turnout to win seats in the EP.

Table 5

Region Muslims % of total electorate Far right % vote share Turnout (%)

London 12.39 17.1 21.8 South East 2.33 25.4 27 South West 0.96 27.6 29.3 West Midlands 6.7 32.2 25.2 East Midlands 3.10 27.4 27.1 East of England 2.53 27.7 27.4 North East 1.8 26.5 22.7 North West 5.05 26.2 23.4 Yorkshire and Humber 6.17 29.8 23.2 Wales 1.49 18.2 22.3 Scotland 8.41 5.2 21.8

53 Marley Morris, ‘Conflicted Politicians: the populist radical right in the European Parliament’.Counterpoint , 2013. 54 BNP suffers election meltdown, The Guardian, 6 May 2011 55 BNP crashes out in local elections, The Guardian, 4 May 2012

Equality and anti-discrimination

The EU has made considerable contributions to the progress and development of anti-discrimination legislation and initiatives. It is worth recalling that among policy areas in which the European Parliament enjoys legislative power is when new legislation on combating discrimination is being adopted by the EU.

Though race equality legislation was first introduced in the UK in 1965 and superseded by subsequent legislation of 1968, 1976, and the Race Relations Amendment Act, 2000, later abrogated by the adoption of the Equality Act, 2000, the European Commission (EC) introduced the Race Equality Directive in 2000 (came into force in the UK in 2003). The Directive forbade direct and indirect discrimination, as well as harassment and instructions to discriminate, on grounds of racial or ethnic origin.

In the same year the EC introduced the Employment Equality Directive (came into force in the UK in 2003) which extended anti-discrimination protection in employment to on grounds of religion. The Directive focuses on discrimination in employment and occupation, as well as vocational training. It deals with direct and indirect discrimination, as well as harassment and instructions to discriminate, on the grounds of religion or belief, disability, age and sexual orientation.

The social groups defined in the Directive; religion or belief, disability, age and sexual orientation were later recognised as protected characteristics in the UK’s 2010 Equality Act along with race.

The 2003 Directive was the first known piece of legislation to extend protection against discrimination on grounds of religion.

The EC has followed up legislative instruments with programmes to monitor progress on implementation. For example, the Community action programme to combat discrimination, 2001- 2006; the programme encouraged concrete measures to combat discrimination (race, religion, disability, age, sexual orientation, etc.) and to supplement the activities (mainly legislative) of the EU and its Member States. The ‘Diversity Against Discrimination’ programme of 2003 was a high profile, EU-wide information campaign aimed at raising awareness of the extant anti-discrimination legislation and of discrimination in general and to raise awareness among citizens about their rights and responsibilities including equal treatment in employment and training irrespective of racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, sexual orientation, disability or age.

The 2007 European Year of Equal Opportunities for All saw a range of activities across the Union aimed at raising public awareness of the right to equality and non-discrimination as protected by European legislation.

A communication from the EC on 19 June 2009 notes: “The participating countries launched 434 actions, which resulted in approximately 1,600 events, campaigns, publications, etc. These actions fulfilled the key implementation principles: decentralisation and balanced treatment of all grounds for discrimination.

The Fundamental Rights Agency of the EU publishes an annual report on the challenges and achievements in the area of anti-discrimination with reports in recent years noting discrimination on grounds of religion emanating from restrictions on the wearing of religious symbols in certain EU states and the political climate dominated by fears which can be played upon by politicians. The FRA’s reports have covered issues such as the ban on minarets in Switzerland, the ban on hijab in French public schools and legal challenges lodged with the European Court of Human Rights in defence of the right to freedom of religion.

In 2013, the EU’s Fundamental Rights Agency published the Opinion on the situation of equality in the European Union which assesses the EU’s progress 10 years on from the adoption of the Racial Equality and Employment Equality Directives. The report argues for improved efforts to raise rights awareness; improved access to justice by widening access to complaints mechanisms; and improved data collection and disaggregation to enable better development of policies to combat discrimination and promote equality.

The FRA has published a number of specialist reports on the condition of Muslims in the European Union. The 2006 Muslims in the European Union - Discrimination and Islamophobia study and the 2009 EU Minorities and Discrimination Survey (EU-MIDIS) Data in Focus report. Both reports evaluated discrimination

Copyright © iENGAGE - St Brides Chambers, 8 Salisbury Court, London EC4Y 8AA | Tel: 020 7871 8430 | www.iengage.uk.net 29 experienced by European Muslim citizens across employment, housing, education, policing and other policy areas.

A 2010 EU MIDIS Survey: Data in Focus Report - Multiple Discrimination notes that self-identified Muslims experience significant levels of discrimination in different areas of everyday life based on their immigrant or ethnic origin, or their religious background.

In November 2012, the FRA published its report, ‘Making hate crime visible in the European Union: acknowledging victims’ rights’. The report undertakes a study of hate crime data collection across the EU Member States and an evaluation of victimisation on a range of bias motivations, including on grounds of religion. The report notes the improvements required in legislation, policy and practice to tackle hate crime and its biased motivations. The report concludes with the recommendations:

At the level of legislation, this means recognising hate crime, the bias motivations underlying it and the effect it has on victims in both national legislation and European law. At the policy level, this means implementing policies that will lead to collecting reliable data on hate crime that would record, at a minimum, the number of incidents of hate crime reported by the public and recorded by the authorities; the number of convictions of offenders; the grounds on which these offences were found to be discriminatory; and the punishments served to offenders. At the practical level, this means putting mechanisms in place to encourage victims and witnesses to report incidents of hate crime as well as mechanisms that would show that authorities are taking hate crime seriously.56

The recommendations build on our commitment to work with Police and Crime Commissioners to see Islamophobia introduced as a category of hate crime, alongside racist and anti-Semitic hate crime.

The Rights and Citizenship Programme 2014-2020 and the Renewal of the Framework of the EU’s Fundamental Rights Agency, both introduced to the EP for voting in December 2013, assert the EU’s commitment to tackling racism, xenophobia and other forms of intolerance in accordance with the EU Charter on Fundamental Values.

The composition of the EP after the elections in 2014 will determine the extent to which this work remains at the forefront of the EU’s commitment to tackling all forms of racism and discrimination in the EU and the resources allocated to the Agencies tasked with advancing this work.

Counter-terrorism

In the area of counter-terrorism, the role of the European Parliament and other EU bodies has been to maintain a balance between rights to liberty and privacy enshrined in the European Convention and national and supra-national counter-terrorism efforts.

The annual TE-SAT: EU Terrorism Situation and Trend Report gives an overview of terrorist incidents in the preceding 12 months and security threats faced by the EU. In recent years, the threat posed by Al-Qaeda inspired terrorism has been negligible in comparison to the actual incidents of political or ideologically inspired violence or threats, yet the threat perception from Al-Qaeda inspired terrorism has remained high on the EU’s alert system.

The situation is compounded by the resources devoted by Member States to tackling al-Qaeda inspired terrorism while far right radicalisation has been marked by an observable neglect. Details of the type of political/ideological violence in the EU, as reported in the TE-SAT during the last EP term are shown below:

TE-SAT: EU Terrorism Situation and Trend Report, 201357

• 219 terrorist attacks carried out in EU Member States, 8 religiously inspired terrorist attacks,167 separatist attacks, 18 left wing terrorist attacks, 2 right wing terrorist attacks

56 Making hate crime visible in the European Union: acknowledging victims’ rights, The Fundamental Rights Agency. Luxembourg: Publica- tions Office of the European Union, 2012 57 The EU Terrorism Situation and Trend Report (TE-SAT). European Police Office, 2013

Copyright © iENGAGE - St Brides Chambers, 8 Salisbury Court, London EC4Y 8AA | Tel: 020 7871 8430 | www.iengage.uk.net 30 • 8 people lost their lives as a result of attacks related to religiously inspired terrorism in 2012; 2 persons were killed in separatist terrorist attacks

• 537 individuals arrested in the EU for terrorist related offences, 122 arrests related to religiously inspired terrorism; 257 arrests related to separatist terrorism, 24 individuals were arrested for involvement in left wing terrorism, 10 individuals arrested for involvement in right wing terrorism

• Court proceedings for terrorism charges concluded in relation to a total of 400 individuals

TE-SAT: EU Terrorism Situation and Trend Report, 201258

• 174 terrorist attacks in EU Member States; not one religiously- inspired terrorist attack on EU territory was reported by Member States

• 484 individuals arrested in the EU for terrorist related offences; the number of individuals arrested for offences related to violent jihadist terrorism was 122 in 2011

• Lone actors were responsible for the killing of two persons in Germany, and 77 persons in Norway

• 316 individuals in concluded court proceedings for terrorism charges

TE-SAT: EU Terrorism Situation and Trend Report, 201159

• 249 terrorist attacks: 3 ‘Islamist’ terrorist attacks, 160 separatist attacks, 45 left- wing and anarchist terrorist attacks (6 fatalities resulting from left wing terrorism)

• 611 individuals arrested for terrorist related offences: 179 individuals arrested for ‘Islamist’ terrorist offences and 89 arrested for the preparation of attacks in the EU. 349 individuals arrested for separatist terrorist related offences, 34 individuals arrested for left-wing and anarchist terrorist activities

• 46 threat statements against EU Member States

• 307 individuals tried for terrorism charges

TE-SAT: EU Terrorism Situation and Trend Report, 201060

• 294 terrorist attacks were carried out in six Member States

• 587 individuals were arrested for terrorism-related offences in 13 member states

• 391 individuals and one NGO were tried on terrorism charges in the Member States, resulting in a total of 125 court decisions

• ‘Islamist’ terrorism accounted for 1 out of a total of 294 in failed, foiled or successfully executed attacks in 2009

• 110 individuals were arrested in relation to ‘Islamist’ terrorist incidents out of a total of 587; with 413 incidents of separatist terrorism, 29 left wing terrorism and 22 right wing terrorism incidents

58 The EU Terrorism Situation and Trend Report (TE-SAT). European Police Office, 2012. 59 The EU Terrorism Situation and Trend Report (TE-SAT). European Police Office, 2011. 60 The EU Terrorism Situation and Trend Report (TE-SAT). European Police Office, 2010.

Copyright © iENGAGE - St Brides Chambers, 8 Salisbury Court, London EC4Y 8AA | Tel: 020 7871 8430 | www.iengage.uk.net 31 • 89 individuals cases were concluded on suspects charged with ‘Islamist’ terrorism out of a total number of 408 concluded cases; 39 cases involved left wing terrorism, 1 case right wing terrorism and 268 separatist terrorism

TE-SAT: EU Terrorism Situation and Trend Report, 200961

• The total number of failed, foiled or successful attacks in 2008 was 515 (in 7 member states).

• 0 the number of ‘Islamist’ attacks in Member States

• The largest proportion was ‘separatist’ terrorism accounting for 397 attacks.

• 1009 people were arrested in 2008 (in 13 member states).

• 187 people were arrested on suspicion of ‘Islamist’ terrorism; 501 for ‘separatist’ terrorism

• 384 verdicts related to terrorism charges in 2008, of which 190 were ‘Islamist’ and 155 were ‘separatist’.

Reports in recent years informing EU policy in the area of counter-terrorism include assessment of the disproportionate impact of racial profiling on the freedom of movement of EU citizens defined by racial or religious identity.

Notable among policy shifts was the ruling by the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Gillan and Quinton vs UK, in which the court ruled the British Government’s use of Section 44 stop and search powers were unlawful based on their arbitrary and discriminatory use. The court ruled that the provision contained in the Terrorism Act (2000) violated the right to privacy.62 The Government repealed the legislation introducing amended powers, Section 47a, under which an officer must demonstrate ‘reasonable suspicion’ before conducting a stop and search.

Given the pervasive use of stop and search powers against ethnic minorities and Muslims in particular, the legislative change marked the start of a comprehensive review on the use of stop and search by police forces in the UK.63

In its series of Shadow Reports investigating ‘Racism and related discriminatory practices’ in EU countries, the European Network Against Racism outlined in its UK report the continuing impact of counter-terrorism legislation under which Muslims as “disproportionately targeted”. The report also notes the “persistently negative and prejudiced coverage of Muslims in the [British] media”.

ENAR warns in its series of reports that Muslims face ‘bad times in Europe’ documenting the “number of indicators of significant disadvantage for Muslims in the UK” in the fields of ‘employment, education, housing, health, access to goods and services, political participation, media, criminal justice, racist violence and crime, hate speech and counter-terrorism’.

The construction of Muslims as a ‘suspect community’ has been well documented in research published since 9/11 with Governments, security and law enforcement agencies challenged over policies that continue to discriminate against Muslims in their exercise of civil and political rights. 64

61 The EU Terrorism Situation and Trend Report (TE-SAT). European Police Office, 2009. 62 Gillan and Quinton v. The United Kingdom (Application no. 4158/05), 12 January 2010 63 Cameron must stop and search his conscience, The Times, 11 February 2014 64 Mary J Hickman, Lyn Thomas, Sara Silvestri and Henri Nickels, “Suspect communities”? Counterterrorism Policy, the Press, and the impact on Irish and Muslim Communities in Britain. London Metropolitan University, 2011; Spooked! How Not to Prevent Violent Extremism. Institute of Race Relations, 2009; Tufyal Choudhury and Helen Fenwick, The impact of counter-terrorism measures on Muslim communities, Equality and Human Rights Commission Research report 72. London: Equality and Human Rights Commission, 2011

Food labelling directives introduced by the European Commission have brought to the fore consideration of religious slaughter and animal welfare, as well as the sale of produce from the Occupied Palestinian Territories in the EU.

Religious slaughter

According to EC Regulation 1099/2009, which was agreed in 2009 and came into force in January 2013, all animals must be spared avoidable pain, distress or suffering during killing and related operations. Exceptions apply in the case of religious slaughter, however, the exemption to the Regulation are subject to national rules that may be introduced by individual Member States.

EU countries that have moved to introduce such rules include Denmark, which recently banned the non-stunned slaughter of animals, effectively reversing the exemption on religious slaughter for Danish Muslim and Jewish communities.65 Other EU countries where the non-stunned slaughter rule applies are Norway, Sweden and Switzerland.66

In the UK, the Prime Minister on his recent visit to Israel announced that the UK would never ban religious slaughter saying “On my watch shechita [kosher] is safe in the UK.”67 The PM’s assurance will give some relief as the president-elect of the British Veterinary Association, John Blackwell, in an interview with The Times newspaper said that he hoped Muslim and Jewish groups would work to the development of a compromise on pre-stunned slaughter deterring the need for the introduction of an outright ban.68

A further area of food labelling that has raised cause for concern for religious groups is the clear labelling of meat derived from non-stunned slaughter methods. Muslim and Jewish groups have argued that the burden of labelling applied to religious slaughter methods alone effectively discriminates against religious minority groups and places an unfair, economic burden on Muslim and Jewish food suppliers.

The issue of religious slaughter is particularly salient for Muslim communities in light of the far right’s disingenuous campaigning on animal welfare as a convenient vehicle to further its deep-seated anti-Muslim prejudice.

Israeli settlement produce and the EU trade zone

The EU regards the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem and its settlements in these Palestinian Territories as illegal and in contravention of Article 49 (6) of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, which prohibits an occupying power from transferring its own civilian population into occupied territory.

As a result of the EU-Israel Association Agreement, Israel is permitted to export produce to the EU on a preferential tariff rate. But in accordance with the EU’s stated position on Israel’s illegal settlements, and the considerable obstruction they pose to the materialisation of a two-state solution; Israel and Palestine, the EU has introduced legislation to ensure settlement produce does not benefit from the preferential export terms.

In 2001, the European Commission moved to alert importers of the terms of the EU-Israel Association Agreement and their limit to the recognised 1967 borders of the State of Israel.

Since 2005, all proofs of preferential origin covering imports from Israel under the provisions of the EU-Israel Association Agreement must indicate the imported goods’ place of production and an accompanying postcode – this is to ensure that settlement produce is clearly identified and the appropriate tariff applied to its export to the EU.

65 Denmark bans kosher and halal slaughter as minister says ‘animal rights come before religion’, The Independent, 18 February 2014 66 Animal Welfare: Methods of Slaughter, Lords Hansard, 16 January 2014 67 Cameron vows never to ban religious slaughter of animals, Daily Telegraph, 13 March 2014 68 Stop ritual slaughter of animals, says top vet, The Times, 6 March 2014

Copyright © iENGAGE - St Brides Chambers, 8 Salisbury Court, London EC4Y 8AA | Tel: 020 7871 8430 | www.iengage.uk.net 33 Moreover, as laid out in European Parliament and Council Directive 2000/13/EC, foodstuffs must be clearly labelled giving consumers accurate information about its provenance (country of origin).

Goods entering the EU must therefore be clearly labelled ‘Produce of the West Bank (Israeli settlement produce)’ or ‘Produce of the West Bank (Palestinian produce)’ to provide with full information concerning the origins of the produce.

The labelling regulations are part of the EU’s wider involvement in the Middle East peace process and is a fundamental contribution to resisting the consolidation of the illegal settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

International Affairs The EU is an important and powerful actor in global affairs. As a regional association comprising of some of the world leading economies, it has vast diplomatic and economic leverage at its disposal in conducting its international affairs. The EU’s Charter of Fundamental Rights sets out the civil and political rights that inform the EU’s observance of values in its internal and external relations. Privileged access to the EU’s trade zone and financial support provided through bilateral and regional development aid, through the EU’s Neighbourhood Policy Instrument, are factors conducive to promoting the EU’s values in global affairs. The EU through the EU-Israel Association Agreement, is a vital source of trade for Israel. Through the European Neighbourhood Policy Instrument (ENPI), the EU is also important to economic growth and infrastructure development in the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA) and in the Palestinian Territories (see our briefing paper, Palestine 194). The Interim Association Agreement between the PLO (for the Palestinian National Authority, PNA) and the EU was signed in February 1997 and came into force in July of that year. The agreement falls within the EU’s European Neighbourhood Policy programme and Instrument (ENPI), a key plank of the EU’s foreign and development assistance policy in the eastern, southern and Mediterranean basin neighbourhoods and is structured on the basis of joint action plans to be agreed and implemented by the EU and development assistance country-recipient. The Action Plan agreed by the EU and the PNA, as with all other plans, devotes financial resources to and monitors progress on the following key areas: political issues – including the development of political institutions based on the values of the Union of democracy, the rule of law and human rights; and economic and social sectors – including structural and fiscal reforms, trade liberalization and human development policies. According to the Interim Agreement, the limitations experienced by the Palestinians in the full implementation of the agreement under duress of the state of occupation is acknowledged with the Action Plan stating that “Joint action will be required both to bring about the implementation of the Roadmap and to continue the preparations for statehood.”69 The EU-PA Interim Agreement alludes to progression towards a full Association Agreement, similar to the contractual relationship with the EU currently enjoyed by Israel, “upon the establishment of an independent Palestinian state,” thereby underscoring the urgency of statehood for the Palestinians. Further, the PNA is a recipient of funding under the EU’s European Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR) for support in the development and expansion of civil society. The EU’s aid to the Palestinians since 2007 has averaged at €500 annually with a cumulative sum of €8 billion to date.70 In April 2011, EU Representative and Head of the EU’s office in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, Christian Berger, announced a further €21 million to support work in key sectors: economy and finance, justice, security and public infrastructure.71

69 EU-Palestinian Authority Action Plan [Online] available at: http://ec.europa.eu/world/enp/pdf/action_plans/pa_enp_ap_final_en.pdf 70 European Former Leaders’ Group letter to EU High Representative, Baroness Catherine Ashton and EU President, Herman van Rompuy, 2 Dec 2010.[Online] Available at: http://www.usmep.us/usmep/wp-content/uploads/2010-12-10-EFLG-letter-to-EU.pdf 71 ‘EU to support PA’s drive to build the institutions of future Palestinian State with €21 million,’ 19 April 2011 [Online] Available at: http:// eeas.europa.eu/delegations/westbank/documents/news/20110419_financing_agreement_en.pdf [Accessed 17 August 2011

Copyright © iENGAGE - St Brides Chambers, 8 Salisbury Court, London EC4Y 8AA | Tel: 020 7871 8430 | www.iengage.uk.net 34 In the MENA region, the EU has two main objectives: • Encourage political and economic reform in each individual country in due respect for its specificities (European Neighbourhood Policy) • Encourage regional cooperation among the countries of the region themselves and with the European Union (Union for the Mediterranean) The European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) covers 16 countries and comprises the EU’s closest neighbours: Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Egypt, Georgia, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Moldova, Morocco, Palestine, Syria, Tunisia and Ukraine. The ENP offers partner countries a privileged relationship with the EU as a means of advancing democracy and human rights, rule of law, good governance, market economy principles and sustainable development in the EU’s neighbourhood. In 2007 - 2013, the EU provided partners with over € 12 billion in grant money for the implementation of the ENP. In 2010-2011, the EU reviewed the ENP and put a strong focus on the promotion of deep and sustainable democracy; particularly free and fair elections, freedom of expression, of assembly and of association, judicial independence, fight against corruption and democratic control over the armed forces, accompanied by inclusive economic development. The EU also stressed the role of civil society bringing about deep and sustainable democracy. The EU unveiled the “more for more” principle, under which the EU will develop stronger partnerships with those neighbours that make more progress towards democratic reform. With the Arab Spring, the EU’s support for transition to democratic rule and good governance, as well as inclusive economic development, takes on greater salience. Through the Union for the Mediterranean, the EU aims to establish a free trade zone to create a common area of peace, stability, and shared prosperity. Through Association Agreements concluded with Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco and Tunisia, the EU is working to remove barriers to trade and investment between both the EU and Southern Mediterranean countries and between the Southern Mediterranean countries themselves. Negotiations for a Framework Agreement between the European Union and Libya are currently suspended and progress towards the signature of an initialled Association Agreement with Syria are also currently suspended. Following the eruption of ethnic violence against the Rohingya Muslim minority in Burma, the EU moved to lift all sanctions against the country, except an arms embargo, in the hope of supporting nascent developments in democratic transition. The move, while rewarding the Burmese authorities for steps to establishing a parliamentary democracy, demonstrated little regard for the ongoing human rights abuses against Rohingya Muslims.72 Similar concerns over human rights abuses of Muslim minority communities in Sri Lanka, Xinjiang, China and the Central African Republic have been raised in recent months. In all cases the EU has been called upon to exercise diplomatic pressure and use its economic clout to press Governments and political authorities to honour commitments to protecting the human rights of national and religious minority communities. Through its economic leverage; the terms of bilateral trade agreements and development aid linked to progress on democratic transition and the protection of fundamental civil and political rights, the EU is a powerful force for good in the world. It is important that the EU recognise its capacity to further the promotion of human rights around the world, and the protection of vulnerable minorities in countries across the globe, through its arsenal of diplomatic channels and economic instruments.

72 ‘EU: Ending Sanctions Undercuts Burma’s Rights Progress’, Human Rights Watch, 22 April 2013.

Conservatives Labour Liberal Democrats UKIP BNP English Democrats Green NO2EU - Yes to Workers' An Independence Christian Peoples Rights from Europe Alliance

East of England

Rank Candidates 1 MEP Vicky Ford MEP Richard Howitt MEP Andrew Duff Patrick O'Flynn Richard Perry Robin Tilbrook Rupert Read Brian Denny Paul Wiffen Carl Clark 2 MEP Geoffrey Van Orden Alex Mayer Josephine Hayes MEP Stuart Agnew Christopher Livingstone Charles Vickers Mark Ereira Eleanor Donne Karl Davies Mark Clamp

3 MEP David Campbell Sandy Martin Belinda Brooks-Gordon Tim Aker Mark Burmby Stephen Goldspink Jill Mills Stephen Glennon Raymond Spalding Chris Olley Bannerman 4 John Flack Bhavna Joshi Stephen Robinson Michael Heaver Paul Hooks Maria Situmbeko Ash Haynes David Goode Edmond Rosenthal Stephen Todd 5 Tom Hunt Paul Bishop Michael Green Mick McGough Stephen Smith Bridget Cowan Marc Scheimann Leonardo Impett Rupert Smith Jane Clamp 6 Margaret Simons Jane Basham Linda Jack Andy Monk Philip Howell Don Whitbread Robert Lindsay Teresa MacKay Dennis Wiffen Kirsty Evans 7 Jonathan Collett Chris Ostrowski Hugh Annand Mark Hughes Michael Braun Jeremy Moss Fiona Radic Emily Thompson-Golding Betty Wiffen Kevin Austin

Conservatives Labour Liberal Democrats UKIP BNP English Democrats Green NO2EU - Yes to Workers' An Independence Harmony Party Rights from Europe

East Midlands

Rank Candidates 1 MEP Emma McClarkin MEP Glenis Willmott MEP Bill Newton Dunn MEP Roger Helmer Cathy Duffy Kevin Sills Katharina Boettge Chris Pain Steve Ward

2 Andrew Lewer Rory Palmer Issan Ghazni Margot Parker Robert West David Wickham Sue Mallender Val Pain 3 Rupert Matthews Linda Woodings Phil Knowles Jonathan Bullock Bob Brindley John Dowell Richard Mallender Alan Jesson 4 Stephen Castens Khalid Hadadi George Smid Nigel Wickens Geoffrey Dickens Oliver Healey Peter Allen John Beaver 5 Brendan Clarke-Smith Nicki Brooks Deborah Newton-Cook Barry Mahoney Paul Hilliard Terry Spencer Simon Hales Carl Mason Conservatives Labour Liberal Democrats UKIP BNP English Democrats Green NO2EU - Yes to Workers' An Independence Christian Peoples National Health Action Harmony Party Freedoms Party Rights from Europe Alliance

London

Rank Candidates 1 MEP Syed Kamall MEP Claude Moraes MEP Sarah Ludford MEP Gerard Batten Stephen Squire Jenny Knight MEP Jean Lambert Edward Dempsey Patrick Burns Sid Cordle Louise Irvine David Vincent Dirk Hazell

2 MEP Dr Charles Tannock MEP Mary Honeyball Jonathan Fryer Paul Oakley Donna Treanor Matthew Roberts Caroline Allen Alexander Gordon Marlene Daniel Yemi Awolola Chidi Ejimofo NoelleAnne O’Sullivan

3 MEP Marina Lucy Anderson Richard Davis Elizabeth Jones Paul Sturdy Maggi Young Haroon Saad April Ashley Gareth Griffiths Ashley Dickenson Marcus Chown Geoff Gibas Yannakoudakis 4 Caroline Attfield Seb Dance Anuja Prashar Lawrence Webb John Clarke Graham Clipperton Shahrar Ali Annie Ngemi Munpreet Bhathal Sharmilla Swarna Kathryn Anderson Aline Doussin 5 Dr Lynne Hack Ivana Bartoletti Rosina Robson Alastair McFarlane David Furness Gary Butler Danny Bates Mary Davis Sharon Greenfield Laurence Williams Rufus Hound Andrew Bell 6 Sheila Lawlor Kamaljeet Jandu Turhan Ozen Anthony Brown Cliff Le May Nick Capp Tracey Hague Paula Mitchell Eddie Yeoman Ethel Odiete Jessica Ormerod Deborah Phillips

7 Glyn Chambers Sanchia Alasia Simon James Andrew McNeilis Ray Underwood Louise Dutton Violeta Vajda Natasha Hoarau Fred Atkins Kevin Nichols Andrew Sharp Royston Flude 8 Annesley Abercorn Andrea Biondi Matt McLaren Peter Whittle Kevin Lazell Natalie Smith Amelia Womack Michael Carty Jean Atkins Stephen Hammond Alex Ashman Brendan Donnelly

Animal Welfare Party Communities United Europeans Party National Liberal Party Party London

Rank Candidates

1 Vanessa Hudson Kamran Malik Tommy Tomescu Graham Williamson

2 Alexander Bourke Humera Kamran Andrzej Rygielski Jagdeesh Singh

3 Kirsteen Williamson-Guinn Cydatty Bogie Vanessa Del Carmen Sockalingam Yogalingam Guerrero Rodriguez 4 Andrew Knight Mary Coleman-Daniels Robin Ashenden Doris Jones

5 Dimple Patel Idris Aden Ali Emil Yuliev Rusanov Upkar Singh Rai

5 Meg Mathews Reuben Agharese Georgios Papagrigorakis Yussef Anwar Edokpayi 6 Guy Richard Sunita Kaur Singh Araz Yurdseven

7 Ranjan Kumar Joshi Joanne Flanders Bernard Dube

Conservatives Labour Liberal Democrats UKIP BNP English Democrats Green NO2EU - Yes to Workers' An Independence Rights from Europe

North East

Rank Candidates 1 MEP Martin Callanan Judith Kirton-Darling Angelika Schneider Jonathan Arnott Martin Vaughan Kevin Riddiough Shirley Ford Sherri Forbes 2 Ben Houchen Paul Brannen Owen Temple Richard Elvin Dorothy Brooke Sam Kelly Alison Whalley Nawal Hizan 3 Andrew Lee Jayne Shotton Christian Vassie Philip Broughton Peter Foreman John Lewis Caroline Robinson Mary Forbes

Conservatives Labour Liberal Democrats UKIP BNP English Democrats Green NO2EU - Yes to Workers' An Independence Pirate Party We Demand a Socialist Equality Rights from Europe Referendum Party Annex 1 - MEP Candidates 2014

North West

Rank Candidates 1 MEP Jacqueline Foster Theresa Griffin MEP Chris Davies MEP Paul Nuttall Nick Griffin MEP Stephen Morris Peter Cranie Roger Bannister Helen Bashford Maria Aretoulaki Rev. George Hargreaves Chris Marsden

2 MEP Sajjad Karim Afzal Khan Helen Foster-Grime Louise Bours Dawn Charlton Paul Rimmer Gina Dowding George Waterhouse Gill Kearney George Walkden Julie Hyland

3 Kevin Beaty Julie Ward Jo Crotty Steven Woolfe Clive Jefferson Derek Bullock Laura Bannister Jacqueline Grunsell Pauline Penny Jack Alnutt Robert Skelton

4 Deborah Dunleavy Wajid Khan Qassim Afzal Shneur Odze Eddy O’Sullivan Paul Whitelegg Jill Perry John Metcalfe Kay Bashford Lucy Warren 5 Joseph Barker Willis Angeliki Stogia Jane Brophy Lee Slaughter Simon Darby Steven McEllenborough John Knight George Tapp Faye Raw Mark Dowson

6 Daniel Hamilton Steve Carter Sue McGuire Simon Noble Kay Pollitt Laurence Depares Ulrike Zeshan Mark Rowe Lorna Markovitch Ajitha Gunaratne 7 Chris Whiteside Pascale Lamb Gordon Lishman Peter Harper Derek Adams Valarie Morris Lewis Coyne James Healy Jennie Ransome Danny Dickinson

8 James Walsh Nick Parrell Neil Christian David O’Loughlin Anthony Backhouse Jake Welsh Kevin Morrison Jill Stockdale Joe Heffer Kevin Doran Conservatives Labour Liberal Democrats UKIP BNP English Democrats Green YOURvoice An Independence Christian Peoples LibertyGB The Peace Party The Roman Party. from Europe Alliance Ave!

South East

Rank Candidates 1 MEP Daniel Hannan Anneliese Dodds MEP Catherine Bearder MEP Nigel Farage John Robinson Steve Uncles MEP Keith Taylor Julian James Laurence Stassen MEP Norman Burnett Paul Weston John Morris Jean-Louis Pascual

2 MEP Nirj Joseph Deva John Howarth Anthony Hook Janice Atkinson Gavin Miller Julia Gasper Alexandra Phillips Rachel Ling Joyce Nattrass Suzanne Fernandes Enza Ferreri Jim Duggan 3 MEP Richard Ashworth Emily Westley Dinti Batstone Diane James Eric Elliott Amanda Hopwood Derek Wall Fulvia James Paul Godfrey Flora Amar Jack Buckby Julie Roxburgh 4 MEP Marta Andreasen James Swindlehurst Giles Goodall Ray Finch John Moore Simone Clark Jason Kitcat Alan Sheath Rev Anthony Jeff Bolam 5 Richard Robinson Farah Nazeer Ian Bearder Donna Edmunds Alwyn Deacon Steve Clegg Miriam Kennet Ken Holtom Dorothy Njivwa Geoff Pay Simpungwa Mugara 6 Graham Knight James Watkins Allis Moss Patricia Culligan Anthony Bamber Milly Uncles Beverley Golden Mark Henry Kayode Shedowo David Brown 7 Julie Marson Maggie Hughes Steve Sollitt Nigel Jones Brenda Waterhouse Mike Russell Jonathan Essex Keith Vernon Bridget Oyekan Keith Scott 8 George Jeffrey Christopher Clark Bruce Tennent Alan Stevens Mark Jones Mike Tibby Jonathan Kent Michaelina Argy Nnenna St Luce Imdad Hussain

9 Rory Love Karen Landles John Vincent Simon Strutt Jack Renshaw Doreen Dye Stuart Jeffrey Seana Connolly Chikka Roja Munim Choudhury 10 Adrian Pepper Tracey Hall Alan Bullion Barry Cooper Yvonne Deacon William James Ray Cunningham Dorothy Sheath Charles Wilkinson Conservatives Labour Liberal Democrats UKIP BNP English Democrats Green NO2EU - Yes to Workers' An Independence Socialist Party of Harmony Party Rights from Europe Great Britain

South West

Rank Candidates 1 MEP Ashley Fox Clare Moody MEP Sir Graham Watson MEP William Dartmouth Adrian Romilly Alan England Molly Scott Cato David Smith Dave Chesham

2 MEP Julie Girling Glyn Ford Kay Barnard Julia Reid Cliff Jones Mike Blundell Emily McIvor Helen Webster Rob Cox

3 James Cracknell Ann Reeder Brian Mathew Gawain Towler Arnold Brindle Clive Lavelle Ricky Knight Mike Camp Les Courtney 4 Georgina Butler Hadleigh Roberts Andrew Wigley Tony McIntyre Wayne Tomlinson Barbara Wright Audaye Khalid Elesedy Andrew Edwards Sean Deegan 5 Sophie Swire Jude Robinson Jay Risbridger Robert Smith Andrew Webster Stephen Wright Judy Maciejowska Phil Dunn Max Hess 2 Melissa Maynard Junab Ali Lyana Armstrong-Emery Keith Crawford Giuseppe De Santis Raymond Carr Mark Chivers John Taverner Claudia Hogg-Blake Danny Lambert Andy Matthews Howard Pilott Mike Young Conservatives Labour Liberal Democrats UKIP BNP English Democrats Green NO2EU - Yes to Workers' An Independence We Demand a Rights from Europe Referendum

West Midlands

Rank Candidates 1 MEP Philip Bradbourn Neena Gill MEP Phil Bennion Jill Seymour Michael Coleman Derek Hilling Will Duckworth Dave Nellist MEP Mike Nattrass MEP Nikki Sinclaire 2 MEP Anthea McIntyre Sion Simon Jonathan Webber James Carver Jennifer Matthys Christopher Newey Aldo Mussi Pat Collins Mark Nattrass Andy Adris

3 Daniel Dalton Lynda Waltho Christine Tinker Bill Etheridge Kenneth Griffiths Stephen Paxton Vicky Duckworth Joanne Stevenson Joshna Pattni Rosemary Brown 4 Michael Burnett Ansar Ali-Khan Ayoub Khan Phil Henrick Simon Patten Charles Haywood Karl Macnaughton Sophia Hussain Carl Humphries David Bennett 5 Sibby Buckle Sibby Olwem Hamer Tim Bearder Michael Wrench David Bradnock Margaret Stoll Tom Harris Paul Reilly George Forrest Judy Smart 6 Dan Sames Anthony Ethapemi Neville Farmer Michael Green Mark Badrick David Lane Alistair Kerr Andrew Chaffer Douglas Ingram Thomas Reid 7 Alex Avera Philippa Roberts John Redfern Lyndon Jones Philip Kimberley Fred Bishop Laura Vesty Amanda Marfleet Paul Alders Amanda Wilson Annex 1 - MEP Candidates 2014

Conservatives Labour Liberal Democrats UKIP BNP English Democrats Green NO2EU - Yes to Workers' An Independence Yorkshire First Rights from Europe

Yorkshire and Humber

Rank Candidates 1 MEP Timothy Kirkhope MEP Linda McAvan MEP Edward McMillan- Jane Collins Marlene Guest Chris Beverley Andrew Cooper Trevor Howard Christopher Booth Stewart Arnold Scott

2 Alex Story Richard Corbett James Monaghan Amjad Bashir Adam Walker David Wildgoose Shan Oakes Mary Jackson Kerrie Oxenham Richard Carter

3 John Procter Eleanor Tunnicliffe Joseph Otten Mike Hookem Daniel Cooke Ian Sutton Dr Victoria Dunn Carrie Hedderwick Malcolm Snelling Richard Honnoraty 4 Carolyn Abbott Asghar Khan Chris Foote-Wood Gary Shores Joanne Brown Colin Porter Denise Craghill Adrian O’Malley John Martin 5 Michael Naughton Helen Mirfin-Boukouris Jacqueline Bell Jason Smith Steven Harrison Tom Redmond Martin Hemingway Steven Andrew Paul Sootheran 6 Ryan Stephenson Darren Hughes Aquila Choudhry Anne Murgatroyd Stuart Henshaw David Allen Kevin Warnes Iain Dalton Howard Blake Scotland

Conservatives Labour Liberal Democrats UKIP BNP SNP Scottish Green NO2EU - Yes to Workers' Britain First Rights

Rank Candidates 1 Ian Duncan MEP David Martin MEP George Lyon David Coburn Kenneth McDonald MEP Ian Hudghton Maggie Chapman John Foster James Dowson

2 Belinda Don MEP Catherine Stihler Christine Jardine Kevin Newton David Orr ME P Alyn Smith Chas Booth Andrew Elliott John Arthur Randall

3 Nosheena Mobarik Derek Munn Richard Brodie Otto Inglis Victoria McKenzie Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh Grace Murray Murdo Maclean Jayda Kaleigh Fransen

4 Jamie Gardiner Katrina Murray Jade Holden Denise Baykal Angus Jim Matthys Stephen Gethins Alastair Whitelaw Gail Morrow Geoffrey Clynch 5 Iain McGill Asim Khan Siobhan Mathers Hugh Hatrick Paul Brandy Stafford Toni Giugliano Anne Katherine Thomas Brian Smith Margaret Dorothy Clynch 6 Stuart McIntyre Kirsty O'Brien Evan Davidson Malcolm Mackay Stacey Fleming Chris Stephens Steen Parish Richard Veitch Jane Susan Shepherd

Wales

Conservatives Labour Liberal Democrats UKIP BNP Plaid Cymru Green NO2EU - Yes to Workers' Britain First Socialist Party of Socialist Labour Party Rights Great Britain

Rank Candidates 1 MEP Dr Kay Swinburne MEP Derek Vaughan Alec Dauncey Nathan Gill Mike Whitby MEP Jill Evans Pippa Bartolotti Robert Griffiths Paul Golding Brian Johnson Andrew Jordan 2 Aled Davies Jayne Bryant Robert Speht James Cole Laurence Reid Marc Jones John Matthews Claire Job Anthony Golding Richard Cheney Kathrine Jones 3 Dr Dan Boucher Alex Thomas Jackie Radford Caroline Jones Jean Griffin Steven Cornelius Chris Were Steven Skelly Christine Smith Edward Blewitt David Lloyd Jones 4 Richard Hopkin Christina Rees Bruce Roberts David Rowlands Gary Tumulty Ioan Bellin Roz Cutler Laura Picand Anne Elstone Howard Moss Liz Screen Northern Ireland

Conservatives Sinn Féin DUP UKIP Alliance UUP Green (NI) Traditional Unionist Voice Aspire to Better

Rank Candidates Mark Brotherston MEP Martina Anderson MEP Diane Dodds Henry Reilly Anna Lo MEP Jim Nicholson Ross Brown Jim Allister Tina McKenzie Download In Focus Reports

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