Forget the empire, the EU is our greatest achievement…

On January 30th I attended the European Parliament with Alex Mayer MEP for the East of England.

I was invited to sit in as the European Parliament debated the UK's withdrawal from the EU. As Michel Barnier began to give his response to recent events I found myself in awe of the translators that were bringing me his every word in real-time. It's no mean feat to successfully deliver an open and accessible experience for all EU citizens, and it saddened me to think that with all the barriers we have overcome together the UK would want to strike out alone, leaving such an inspirational, incredible project behind.

The response of the European Union to Parliaments request to re-open the Irish back-stop was predictable and entirely reasonable. Michel Barnier, Guy Verhofstadt, and Elmar Brok explained the European Union's willingness to discuss a Customs Union, or a closer relationship, but it requires Parliament and Theresa May to come back with a sensible proposal, something that the UK currently does not have. I really felt their frustration at the complete incompetence of our government's handling of the negotiations, as Brok stated, 'the backstop was a UK proposal', the EU bent over backwards to reach a viable Withdrawal Agreement with us that adhered to Theresa May's self-imposed red lines.

I was disgusted with the behaviour I witnessed from David Coburn MEP and other members of UKIP. The grey corner were lounging in their seats and showing a complete lack of respect to all other members of the EU Parliament. I couldn't help but wonder if this is how things would end for the UK, smarmy old men, childish antics, arrogance by the bucket load, and the odd cry of "rubbish" from a bleating orifice. The irony of course is that the word 'rubbish' sums up UKIP's EU Parliament attendance record and overall contribution. Other MEP's informed me that UKIP have been holding back a lot of the reform that they claim is impossible for the UK to achieve.

What became clear very quickly is that whatever the conclusion of Brexit, even if it doesn't happen, the next generation will have their work cut out to repair the damage inflicted on our international reputation by several truly repugnant individuals.

Post the European Parliament session, I presented Alex Mayer MEP and Arndt Kohn MEP with several questions from constituents and young people (through Our Future Our Choice).

Firstly I asked about the lack of visible communication from the EU. Both MEP's spoke of the struggle to reach people in the UK due to the nature of our press and media outlets, compared to Germany and other nations where the press is less political and more objective. Arndt is regularly invited to press and media events in Germany, whereas Alex struggles in the UK, making several requests before being given any opportunities. It's quite well documented that the BBC have featured very few MEP's outside of UKIP for example. Alex spoke of the UK "culture of removing references to EU funding" sighting an example on the A14 in Ipswich.

So how does Alex recommend we change the UK narrative and inform people? Localised campaigns and local press, "the local press tends to be less biased and they are often willing to report on EU funding and progress".

How about strategies to combat fake news? Arndt was clear the EU can't do this on their own they need local people to highlight and correct fake news when it presents itself to them. He spoke of social media bubbles and the real challenge of reaching people who do not want to hear another opinion. Alex suggested that "the UK needs a degree more of media regulation" as a more balanced approach to coverage, as seen during the recent snap election, shifted public opinion significantly. The EU has recently launched a new website euvsdisinfo.eu that enables EU citizens to submit fake news and have it corrected and documented.

Finally, how about Alex's thoughts on making MEP constituencies smaller? Previous MEP's such as Eryl McNally (Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire) and many who currently serve believe that after the constituencies were enlarged they became far more unmanageable, it made it more difficult to build relationships and become well known in a community. Alex said that some believe that smaller constituencies would have reduced the rise of UKIP.

To conclude, this trip really highlighted to me how impressive the EU Parliament is. We should be proud that the UK stands with 27 other countries and collaborates with them to deliver positive change across the continent. The EU enables us to lead and tackle cross-country challenges such as: the taxation of large online corporations; green energy and environmental issues; delivering medical and technology breakthroughs. Are we really prepared to leave all this behind? Forget the empire, this, the EU itself, is the UK's greatest achievement.