Why should I care who my MEP is?

In all likelihood, Britain will be taking part in the European parliament elections at the end of May. But why should you care who your MEP is?

MEPs scrutinise, amend and block laws that the European Commission proposes – meaning their decisions affect European Union law, and thus British law. As a large member state, Britain has 73 MEPs – around 10 per cent of the total, which means collectively they are a huge voting bloc.

But with the UK set to leave the EU, this influence won’t last long, and MEPs may only sit for a couple of months at most – not long enough to pass legislation.

Even if the UK leaves the EU later this year, British MEPs may have some impact. The result of the European parliament elections partly determines who the new president of the EC will be, replacing Jean-Claude Juncker. This process will conclude before the end of the current Brexit extension on 31 October when the new president will take office.

This time, polls show the UK’s MEPs could swing the balance away from the centre-right group, which held the post since 1999, to the centre-left group. This could only happen if Labour does well in the elections, as the contest is in practice between the group Labour is in and the centre-right European People’s Party.

A European Commission controlled by the socialist group would have different priorities and policies. Under the transition period negotiated by Theresa May, even once the UK has left it’ll still be subject to EU rules. So if you would prefer a centre-left commission to a centre-right one, the elections are relevant in that sense.

But other than in picking the commissioner, the UK leaves the EU fairly soon, it won’t really make much difference who your MEP is. When the UK leaves, its MEPs will go with it, along with Britain’s influence in Brussels and Strasbourg.

Some voters may choose to use the elections to vote for parties whose Brexit policy they approve or disapprove of. In terms of actual impact of Brexit, the result is unlikely to have any effect. British MEPs have essentially zero impact on the EU exit process. While MEPs as a whole have to approve the final deal, British MEPs will be outnumbered whatever party they are from.

The only impact the EU election results could have on Brexit is really to “send a message” to the parties. But with a different voting system and usually low turnout, parties may not pay too much attention to the European parliament election results.

There is another aspect: some MEPs are also outspoken campaigners for and against Brexit, and re-electing them may give them a bigger platform – though little actual power over the process.

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