European Parliament Elections 2014 RESEARCH PAPER 14/32 11 June 2014 Elections to the European Parliament were held across the 28 states of the European Union between 22 and 25 May 2014. The UK elections were held concurrently with council elections in England and Northern Ireland on 22 May. The UK now has 73 MEPs, up from 72 at the last election, distributed between 12 regions. UKIP won 24 seats, Labour 20, the Conservatives 19, and the Green Party three. The Liberal Democrats won only one seat, down from 11 at the 2009 European election. The BNP lost both of the two seats they had won for the first time at the previous election. UKIP won the popular vote overall, and in six of the nine regions in England. Labour won the popular vote in Wales and the SNP won in Scotland. Across the UK as a whole turnout was 35%. Across Europe there was an increase in the number of seats held by Eurosceptic parties, although more centrist parties in established pro-European groups were still in the majority. The exact political balance of the new Parliament depends on the formation of the political groups. Turnout across the EU was 43%. It was relatively low in some of the newer Member States. Part 1 of this paper presents the full results of the UK elections, including regional analysis and local-level data. Part 2 presents a summary of the results across the EU, together with country-level summaries based on data from official national sources. Oliver Hawkins Vaughne Miller Recent Research Papers 14/22 Accident & Emergency Performance: England 2013/14. 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ISSN 1368-8456 RESEARCH PAPER 14/32 Contents Summary 1 1 The political context before the elections 2 1.1 Government plans for reform and renegotiation 2 1.2 The UK election campaign 4 1.3 The new European Parliament 5 Forming political groups 5 The new Commission president 7 Prospects for Eurosceptic groups 8 1.4 Key issues for the UK Government 9 1.5 Is there support for reform in other EU Member States? 11 2 Results in the United Kingdom 12 2.1 Summary of results 12 2.2 Turnout 14 2.3 The d’Hondt system 15 2.4 Results at a regional level 16 Great Britain 17 North East 18 North West 19 Yorkshire and the Humber 20 East Midlands 21 West Midlands 22 East 23 London 24 South East 25 South West 26 Wales 27 Scotland 28 Northern Ireland 29 2.5 Results at local level 30 2.6 UK MEPs by gender and experience 31 2.7 European Parliament election results at local level, Great Britain 33 2.8 UK MEPs by party 42 RESEARCH PAPER 14/32 3 Results across the European Union 44 3.1 Turnout 44 3.2 Seats in the European Parliament 45 3.3 Women and Men in the European Parliament 47 3.4 Country-level analysis 47 RESEARCH PAPER 14/32 Summary Elections to the European Parliament were held across the 28 states of the European Union between 22 and 25 May 2014. Results in the UK The UK elections were held concurrently with council elections in England and Northern Ireland on 22 May. The UK now has 73 MEPs, up from 72 at the last election, distributed between 12 regions. UKIP won 24 seats, Labour 20, the Conservatives 19, and the Green Party three. The Liberal Democrats won only one seat, down from 11 at the 2009 European election. The BNP lost both of the two seats they had won for the first time at the previous European election. Across Great Britain, UKIP were first with 27.5% of the vote. Labour came second with 25.4%, ahead of the Conservatives with 23.9%. Labour won the popular vote in Wales, while the SNP came first in Scotland. UKIP came first in six of the nine English regions, with their strongest performances in the East, the East Midlands, the South East and the South West. Sinn Féin won the most first preference votes in Northern Ireland. UKIP’s share of the vote increased by 11.0% points, while Labour’s increased by 9.7% points. The Conservative and Liberal Democrat shares fell by 3.8% points and 6.9% points respectively. UK turnout was 35.4%, slightly higher than 34.5% in 2009, but lower than 38.4% in 2004, when four regions held all-postal ballots. Results across the EU MEPs from different countries are elected from national parties, but in the European Parliament many join political groups; after the 2014 elections the largest of these is likely to be European People’s Party. The second largest group is the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats. New groups and allegiances are likely to be formed during the new Parliament. Across Europe there was an increase in the number of seats held by Eurosceptic parties, although more centrist parties in established pro-European groups were still in the majority. The exact political balance of the new Parliament depends on the formation of the political groups Turnout across the EU was 43%. It was relatively low in some of the newer Member States. The proportion of women MEPs was 37%, the highest recorded at any European election so far. 1 RESEARCH PAPER 14/32 1 The political context before the elections Most polls before the EP elections predicted another low turnout, a rise in the Eurosceptic vote and that immigration would be one of the most contentious campaign issues. Anger over EU-imposed austerity measures, high unemployment and immigration were reported to be the main causes for the increase in support for anti-EU parties across the EU. Polls towards the beginning of 2014 predicted that the “fragmented agglomeration of extreme right-wing and right-populist parties could take about 80 of the 751 seats in the next Parliament” – roughly 10%.1 Open Europe estimated in spring 2014 that anti-EU and eurosceptic parties of various forms could win as much as 31% of the vote.2 Adopting a more narrow definition of anti-European parties, the research organisation Absolute Strategy predicted an anti-EU vote of 18%.3 The EU debate in the UK has been dominated in recent years by the issues of EU accountability, the amount of legislation coming from Europe, the consequences of freedom of movement (particularly from new accession states in Eastern Europe), and the need for a referendum on continued EU membership. The 2009 Conservative European election manifesto made references to a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty if they came to power before the Treaty was implemented, but there was no commitment to an in/out referendum if they came to office. The Conservative Party general election manifesto in 2010 pledged to return key powers over legal rights, criminal justice and social and employment legislation to the UK (repatriation), but did not promise a referendum on EU membership. The Conservative-led Government introduced new provisions to approve EU proposals in the form of the European Union Act 2011, which provided for enhanced scrutiny of EU proposals or Treaty changes that would transfer power from Westminster to the EU. There were provisions for primary legislation and in certain cases a referendum before UK approval of EU measures, but this referendum would not be on EU membership.4 There were renewed calls for an in/out referendum on EU membership, to which the Government responded in January 2013 with a pledge to hold one by the end of 2017, after renegotiating the terms of the UK’s EU membership. This pledge was emphasised in the Conservatives’ 2014 European election manifesto. 1.1 Government plans for reform and renegotiation The Government believes that the EU should do less and the Member States should do more. To investigate the extent to which the EU is involved in policy- and law-making across a broad range of areas, in July 2012 the Government launched a Review of the Balance of Competences between the EU and the UK.