League tables published for openness of Britain's MEPs

"With elections to the European Parliament less than two weeks away, Open Europe has today published a ranking of all 785 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs), scoring their record on promoting transparency and reform in the European Union over the last five-year term."

The ten most transparent British MEPs...

1. Caroline Lucas                     Green Party                 43 points
1. Struan Stevenson                 Conservative               43 points
1. Alyn Smith                            SNP                             43 points
4. Diana Wallis                         Lib-Dem                      42 points
5. Jim Allister                            Independent                41 points
6. Derek Clark                          UKIP                            40 points
6. Fiona Hall                             Lib-Dem                      40 points
6. Malcolm Harbour                 Conservative               40 points
9. Chris Heaton-Harris            Conservative               39 points
9. Gerard Batten                      UKIP                            39 points
9. Liz Lynne                             Lib-Dem                      39 points       

The ten least transparent British MEPs...

78. David Sumberg                  Conservative               10 points
76. John Whittaker                   UKIP                            11 points
76. Robert Kilroy-Silk               UKIP                            11 points
75. Trevor Colman                   UKIP                            13 points*
(MEP since Oct 08)
74. Jonathan Evans                 Conservative               14 points
72. Godfrey Bloom                   UKIP                            19 points
72. Giles Chichester                Conservative               19 points
71. Nirj Deva                            Conservative               21 points
70. Roger Knapman                UKIP                            22 points
66. Nigel Farage                      UKIP                            23 points
66. Baroness Nicholson          Lib-Dem                      23 points
66. Den Dover                         Conservative              23 points
66. Glenis Willmott                  Labour                         23 points*
(MEP since Jan 06)

Click here for a spreadsheet for all UK MEPs.

The parties as a whole...

Party                                                 Number of MEPs      Average score per MEP

1. Green Party                                                2                                 39.5
2. Scottish National Party                               2                                 38.5
3. Liberal Democrats                                     11                                34.5
4. Conservative Party                                     28                               29.5
5. Labour                                                        19                                29.3
6. UKIP                                                           10                                25.5
7. Independents                                              3                                  25.3

Tim Montgomerie

HOW THE RANKINGS ARE CALCULATED

A) Transparency, openness and democracy

MEPs are ranked according to whether they:

1. Voted for easier public access to EU documents
2. Voted against keeping MEPs' expenses and accounts secret
3. Voted to increase transparency, including better public access to MEPs' voting records
4. Responded to Open Europe's Transparency Initiative on expenses and allowances
5. Voted in favour of imposing sanctions for MEPs guilty of financial irregularities
6. Voted in favour of providing mandatory receipts for travel expenses
7. Voted to respect the outcome of the pending legally-binding Irish referendum on the Lisbon Treaty
8. Voted in favour of opening Europe up to trade with developing countries
9. Achieved good attendance at the Parliament's voting sessions

B) Fighting waste and misuse of EU funds

MEPs are ranked according to whether they:

1. Opted out of the Parliament's controversial second pension fund
2. Voted in favour of cleaning up the second pension fund
3. Supported moves to abolish the Parliament's second seat in Strasbourg
4. Voted against 'hypocritical' EU subsidies to tobacco farmers
5. Voted to reform the CAP and discontinue subsidies to tobacco farmers
6. Voted not to clear the European Parliament's accounts for 2006 due to 75% unaccounted expenditure on MEPs' assistants' allowances
7. Voted not to approve the Parliament's accounts for 2007
8. Voted not to approve the Commission's accounts for 2007
9. Voted to postpone clearing the European Council's accounts for 2007
10. Voted against clearing the accounts of the European Police College for 2007 while it was under investigation for fraud

> Recent ToryDiary: Conservative MEPs lead the way in Europe with publication of their expenses