“Spectacular own goal of the season”

Veronica Hardstaff has excelled herself on the political football field with her Star, February 12, letter 'Nigel Farage is no hero.' and is a contender for the most spectacular own goal of the season award.

She goes to great lengths to accuse him of 'being an MEP for more than 20 years while taking his salary and expenses without doing any of the real work for which he was being paid’. She points out that the real work is done by their committees working with colleagues of all member states to further the cause of European legislation, that this is what they are elected to do and that Nigel Farage has a very poor attendance and by association input record at such meetings.

I have previously advised Veronica to research her subject before putting pen to paper. If she had done so she would be aware of the fact that when Nigel Farage was first elected as a UKIP MEP in 1999 he declared in the party manifesto that his/their main aim was to get the UK out of the European Union.

He announced this to the EU Parliament at their first meeting and was laughed at by the other member states representatives, when the UK voted to Brexit in 2016 he reminded those delegates that 'you are not laughing now.' and was met with silence.

The British electorate agreed with UKIP's aim and elected the party to office as the largest UK political group, Nigel Farage was subsequently re-elected three times, in 2004, 2009 and 2014. His greatest achievement was arguably to form the Brexit Party and within a matter of months gain the majority UK individual party seats at the EU elections. I respectfully suggest both UKIP and Brexit party supporters who voted him into office did so without wishing to take him to task for his poor attendance and input at EU meetings designed to strengthen EU legislation which the UK would be governed by!

As his/party declared intention was to bring about our withdrawal from the EU as soon as possible it hardly stands to reason that he would participate in working with fellow committee members to further European legislation, and all the ensuing political/economic/financial shackles for the UK to be burdened with.

He stuck by his guns and with the help of a majority of the UK electorate finally achieved his inaugural wish to get us out of the EU. For this he deserves a suitable award for political heroism in the face of concerted opposition from past and present UK governments/establishment/media.

To associate his 1999 arrival in the European Parliament with its deterioration as a civilized body which exists today is hardly being fair to him. With the likes of Guy Verhofstadt the ex-Belgium Prime Minister and fellow senior officers continually having a go at the UK, they are not blameless in this respect.

For all his alleged shortcomings, Mr Farage was ranked the fifth most influential MEP out of 750 by Politico in 2016, who also described him as one of the two most effective speakers in the chamber. Speaking up for what he was elected to do, getting us out of the EU!

I have never accused Veronica of being a bad loser, only that she has not accepted a democratic majority vote decision be it by one or 1.4 million. Yet again, she espouses the financial support that South Yorkshire has received from the EU but fails to accept that this is only returning a fraction of the annual £9 billion surplus which we pay to them.

As for Mr Farage being 'part of the educated elite' and not suffering the downsides (if any) of Brexit, I respectfully remind her that several members of the Labour Party of which she is a member have done very well financially from their stay as MEPs and EU Commissioners. Neil/Glenys Kinnock, Peter Mandelson for example, all now enshrined in the House of Lords claiming £300 per day just to sign the register of attendance!

Lords Kinnock and Mandelson left the EU Parliament with annual pensions of circa £90k and £35k. As an ex-MEP, Veronica also qualifies for an annual pension but I fear hardly in the same league of her EU gravy train brethren.