ECR and ALDE groups set to lose big name British MEPs in EU elections

The leader of parliament's ECR group is just one of several experienced British MEPs in danger of losing their seats in the upcoming elections, according to a new poll.

By Brian Johnson

Brian Johnson is Managing Editor of The Parliament Magazine

24 Mar 2014

The survey released late last week by UK pollsters YouGov, suggests that the UK Conservative party and the British Liberals could each lose around eight seats.

The poll, on UK voting intentions, puts the British Labour party on 32 per cent of the total vote, the Conservatives on 24 per cent, Ukip close behind on 23 per cent, the Liberals on just 10 points, the Greens on five and 'others' on six points.

Data modelling by the Parliament Magazine's in-house research team, translating the figures into European parliament seat numbers, suggests substantial losses for both the conservatives and Liberals with consequent gains for the British Labour party and Ukip.

Big name Conservatives facing defeat include the current leader of the ECR group Martin Callanan, outspoken Tory group member Marina Yannakoudakis, as well as Ukip-turned-Tory deputies David Campbell Bannerman and Marta Andreasen.

Potential British Liberal losses include Graham Watson, the former ALDE group leader and 20-year member of the parliament, Edward McMillan-Scott, a 30-year parliament member and outspoken anti-Strasbourg, single seat campaigner, as well as popular deputies Phil Bennion, George Lyon and veteran Bill Newton Dunn, who has served as an MEP since the first elections in 1979.

The Parliament Magazine calculates seat allocation for the four main parties, based on this latest poll, as follows:

Labour, 28 seats, up from 2009 by 15 MEPs, the Conservatives down from 2009 by eight MEPs to 18 seats, the Liberal Democrats down by eight seats on 2009's result to end up with four seats and UKIP up by eight seats from 2009 to just behind the conservatives with 17 seats.

Other long-serving deputies, Greens MEP Jean Lambert and Welsh nationalist MEP Jill Evans, are also at risk of losing their seats, as is British extreme right deputy Nick Griffin.