Wales will be electing Four MEPs to joining the 69 elected from other parts of the UK.
The latest Poll (April) suggests that the Conservatives will win one , Labour two and UKIP one.
If that is true on the day of election the four elected MEPs will be
Conservative – Dr. Kay Swinburne
Labour – Derek Vaughan & Jayne Bryant
UKIP- Nathan Gill
May 9th, 2014 at 12:48 pm
KAY SWINBURNE
Born and raised in West Wales and a fluent Welsh-speaker, Swinburne was educated at Llandysul Grammar School and went on to earn a degree in Biochemistry and Microbiology from King’s College London, followed by a Ph.D. in medical research and an MBA from the University of Surrey, before starting a career in international healthcare and finance.
A successful career in investment banking has given her an in-depth knowledge of the global financial markets, specialising in advisory work for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, including M&A, venture capital investments, mezzanine financing and IPOs.
Early Political Career
She spent six years [29 May 2003 – 24 March 2009] as a Town Councillor for Ledbury Parish Council; and was elected Mayor in 2006.
Later in 2006, she also stood to be a Conservative Councillor on Herefordshire County Council and was duly appointed, serving as Chair of the Health Scrutiny committee. During this time she also served as Deputy Chair of the North Herefordshire Conservatives Association (NHCA). She stepped down as a County Councillor in March 2010.
She is a member of the Welsh Conservatives.
European Parliament
In the European Parliament, Swinburne sits in the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR Group), a Conservative Party led group created in 2009 to campaign for urgent reform of the European Union. She is a member of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, and formerly a substitute for the EuroMed Parliamentary Assembly (DMED): the Union for the Mediterranean which promotes economic integration and democratic reform across 16 neighbours to the EU’s south in North Africa and the Middle East and the European Parliament Delegation to Palestine. She also was the ECR Group’s Co-ordinator on the Special Committee on the Financial, Economic and Social Crisis (CRIS). Her extensive meetings with lobbyists for the financial industry have been criticised.
Political Achievements
As former coordinator for the ECR group and UK spokesman on Economic and Monetary Affairs,[12] she has successfully negotiated a number of dossiers concerning the UK’s key priority on Europe of Financial Services as well as being part of the global reform agenda since the start of the financial crisis. These include EMIR and MiFID which focus on fulfilling the UK’s G20 commitment to reform of the derivatives markets. She has also been nominated by the committee as Rapporteur on a dossier concerning post trade settlement process; this is the first time in 12 years that a UK Conservative has been nominated by the committee to take a leading role on a financial services file.
During the political negotiations within the Parliament concerning the newly proposed Banking Union, she was the only non-Euro zone member of the committee present and successfully gained all political groups support for a requirement for all of the detailed rules involved in financial services to have a double majority of both Euro zone and non-Euro zone members in favour before it could pass into law. A key achievement in protecting the UK’s place within the single market, and the way in which decisions will be taken going forwards as parts of the EU become more integrated than others.
A key political achievement was also successfully securing a legislative requirement for a Legal Entity Identifier for Financial Transactions which is now being processed in a facility in North Wales, thereby linking her work on financial services back to her constituency.
She has also prioritised working with the other 4 Welsh MEPs where possible, in particular concerning the use of electronic identification tags for sheep, where the Commission for the first time received a letter from all of the MEPs of one region collectively. As a result of this and a more concerted campaign by others, she has secured a more proportionate approach that recognises the difficulties that Welsh farmers may have otherwise experienced.
Campaigns
‘Save the Bee’:Launched at the Royal Welsh Show, Summer 2011, to increase public awareness of the plight of bee populations in the UK, and Wales in particular. Rates of decline have reached up to 39% in the last five years.
• ‘Tell us your red-tape problems’: Swinburne called on entrepreneurs and leaders of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Wales to contact her with their chief concerns over burdensome rules and regulations – particularly those emanating from Brussels. A campaign designed to raise awareness but also to deal with legislative problems encountered by small businesses in their day-to-day running. The move followed an initiative by the European Commissioner for Industry and Entrepreneurship, Antonio Tajani, saying he wanted to discover the 10 most-restrictive pieces of legislation for SMEs on the EU’s statute books.
May 9th, 2014 at 12:54 pm
DEREK VAUGHAN
Derek Vaughan was born in Merthyr Tydfil on 2nd May 1961. He lived in Aberfan for most of his early life, moving to Neath in 1984.
He was educated at Afon Taf High School and later at Swansea University, where he gained an Honours Degree in Politics and History.
Derek became an engineering apprentice at Hoover Limited in Merthyr Tydfil after leaving school. From there he went on to work in the Valuation Office Agency. He took three years sabbatical from work to undertake his degree at Swansea University. After completing his degree he went back to the Valuation Office Agency for a short time before working full time for the PCS Trade Union. He worked in this job until being elected Leader of Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council.
Derek was elected as Labour Party Member of the European Parliament for Wales in June 2009.
Derek has been a member of the Labour Party for 29 years. In that time he has held a number of positions in his Ward and Constituency Party. In the mid-1980’s he was elected to Neath Town Council and became Mayor of the Town Council. In 1995 he was elected to the shadow Neath Port Talbot Council as the Member for Neath North.
As a Councillor on Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council he has held a number of positions, including Cabinet Member for Economic Development. Following the elections in June 2004 he became Leader of the Council. In 2005 he became Leader of the Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) and since the 2008 election Deputy Leader.
EU key issues brief
Contents:
• Key facts
• Worker’s rights
• Women’s rights
• Consumer rights
• EU funding and Welsh jobs
• Trade and investment
• Migration
• Opposition watch
• Contact details
Key facts:
• Of all four Welsh MEPs, Labour MEP Derek Vaughan consistently works the hardest. He spends the most time in Parliament, votes on the most legislation and delivers the best results for Wales.
• Derek was the only Welsh MEP to fight against cuts for Wales in the new EU budget. His efforts mean that Wales will benefit from an additional £130m in EU funding rather than the £400m cut that the UK Tory Government originally insisted on.
• Derek’s work means more EU money to support Welsh businesses, research and jobs in our communities.
• If all Labour supporters vote on May 22nd we have a good chance of winning this election and continuing to represent Wales’ best interests in the EU.
Worker’s rights
With the Prime Minister pledging to hold a referendum on the UK’s membership of the European Union, the undercurrent of attacking hard won workers’ rights at the same time cannot be ignored.
EU legislation has given workers health and safety protection, paid holidays, and equal rights for part-time workers. It has ensured protection against discrimination and harassment at work, the right to reasonable working hours and the right to maternity and paternity leave.
The Tory right and UKIP want to leave the EU in order to deny Welsh workers their rights. Indeed, you only have to look at some of the policies and statements from UKIP to see that this is the case. They want to scrap maternity pay in SMEs, they want to privatise the NHS and one of them even said that public sector workers and the unemployed should not be allowed to vote.
Women’s rights
The European Union has introduced and defended many of the women’s rights we now take for granted:
• Rights during pregnancy ‐ Women can no longer be sacked for being pregnant and pay and conditions will be protected when returning to work after maternity leave.
Last updated 20/01/13
May 9th, 2014 at 12:55 pm
JAYNE BRYANT grew up in Newport during the steel strike.
“She did A-level politics at school and did a degree in history and politics at Keele University. In the meantime She’d joined the Labour Party in Newport and became active, going to branch meetings and delivering leaflets. Since then She’s always been active in her local Labour Party.”
After graduating, Ms Bryant worked for Newport East AM Rosemary Butler during the first term of the National Assembly – a period she describes as a “fabulous experience”.
She then went travelling for a year, starting in Rio de Janeiro and working for a short time in a New South Wales government department on equality issues.
After a year working as a press officer for the Labour group at Rhondda Cynon Taf council, she has worked as a researcher and constituency assistant to Paul Flynn for seven years.
She said: “I like very much meeting people and doing the constituency casework. With all the cuts pushed through by the coalition at Westminster, many people are angry and at their wit’s end. You really feel you want to do something to try and help.
“I also enjoy doing policy work for Paul. He’s on the Council of Europe so I’ve done quite a lot on those issues. He trusts you to get on with it and we turn reports round pretty quickly in the office. I’m lucky to have a very varied job.”
Despite an unsuccessful attempt to get elected to Newport council in 2008, Ms Bryant found she enjoyed campaigning for herself as well as Labour.
“That’s when I found out I wanted to do it. The European Parliament selection came at a time when I was getting increasingly irritated by the Tory Government and the message they were putting out about Europe. I do feel membership of the EU is vital to the future prosperity of Wales – I really do believe that.
“This is a really important election. A big part of it will be arguing the case for Britain to remain in the EU. I’ll be putting a positive case forward which I think is what the Labour Party will want to do.
“We won’t be saying that the EU is perfect – there are certain parts of it that need reform. But we have to show that Europe is so important for Wales, just in terms of the amount of money we get from the EU – it’s £1bn a year – especially when you’re getting cuts from the Tory-led coalition. We’re lucky in Wales that we’ve got an Assembly that understands that and is very keen to work around that.
“We’ve got 150,000 jobs dependent on Europe directly, and there’s the benefits we get from social Europe – protecting jobs, workers’ rights, environmental and consumer protection.”
Ms Bryant said she was also keen to take on Ukip and its leader Nigel Farage: “He’s cultivated a cosy image, but if you look at Ukip’s economic policies they are a party that wants hard right policies like abolishing national insurance and a flat-rate tax that favour the rich.”
Welsh Labour will field a strong team of four candidates led by experienced MEP Derek Vaughan in first position and very likely to secure a place. Winning two seats for Labour in 2014 is an attainable aim. Jayne is well placed to be elected.
May 9th, 2014 at 1:04 pm
NATHAN GILL says
I am 40 years old, and am married with 5 children. My family moved to Wales in the early eighties, after falling in love with the country, and I could think of no where better to raise my children, who are benefiting from a bi-lingual education.
I attended Coleg Menai before starting at the family business – employing 180 people providing Domiciliary and Home Care for the Elderly for 2 local authorities.
After selling that business, I moved back to Wales with my family.
From an early age, I have been interested in politics, and the history of our Great Nation. I was a member of the Conservative Party, but was dismayed at their attitude to the EU, the one issue that rules them all. I resigned my membership and joined UKIP in February of 2005 deciding then and there, that this was a fight worth fighting. I was not being asked to stand in the trenches, or storm the beaches of Normandy for my country. This was to be a long and mainly thankless battle to inform the public, and raise UKIP’s profile as a professional mainstream party.
I am not a career politician. I have worked in the real world, employed many people and created real wealth for the country. I have experienced the burden of endless redtape and government meddling, and believe that Britain is better United as the UK, then as separated Regions of a United States of Europe.
I was the leader of the UKIP Group of candidtes for the Anglesey Local Elections in May of 2013. We did really well, drawing 4,500 votes, and beating the Conservative Party and Liberal Democrats.
I have the priviledge of being the number one candidate in this years European Elections (May 22nd), for Wales. The election is Regional, with Wales being classed as one of the EU regions. The election is held under Proportional Representation, and their are four seats available in Wales.