28th May 2009

Poll: Greens are the most trusted

Green leader comes top in Open Europe's "premier league" MEP poll

Caroline Lucas MEP, leader of the Green Party, has been rated best British MEP on transparency, accountability, democracy and waste by campaign group Open Europe.

And Britain's Green Party MEPs were ranked above the groups of all other British parties.

Open Europe published a ranking of all 785 Members of the European Parliament, scoring their record on promoting transparency and reform in the European Union over the last five-year term.

Open Europe's ranking was based on a range of activities, including voting records, attendance, written declarations, and whether the MEPs themselves have taken part in wasteful activities, such as the controversial second pension fund.

Open Europe awarded points based on a "Premier League" model, where 3 points was the highest score, followed by 1 point and 0 points. On attendance, a scale from 1 to 6 was used. MEPs who had been the subject of substantive press reports of wrongdoing were shown Open Europe's "red card" and had 10 points deducted from their score.

UKIP leader in bottom ten (bottom ten MEPs are 5 Conservative, 4 UKIP, 1 Independent)

The bottom thirteen places for British MEPs in Open Europe's ranking included 5 Conservatives and 6 UKIP MEPs. The UKIP party leader, Nigel Farage, was 10th worst among UK MEPs.

Green Party leader Dr Caroline Lucas MEP, commenting on the result, said:

"I'm delighted that the Green Party has topped the poll on promoting transparency and reform in the EU. It shows more clearly than ever that if people want to see greater democracy, transparency and accountability in parliament, the best way of achieving that is to vote Green on 4 June."

Open Europe's Research Director Mats Persson said commented:

"No matter where their political sympathies may lie, MEPs should all be working for a more open, democratic EU, while trying to reduce the waste of taxpayers' money. These issues should be at the top of their agenda - especially now when the public's trust in politicians is at an all-time low.

"They might talk a good game at home, but too many British MEPs have voted against transparency and EU reform on a number of occasions. What we need now is a new generation of politicians, committed to acting in the public interest and pushing for a much better deal for taxpayers at all levels of government - including EU level."