Time to vote for your MEP

By [jscottow]

Voters in Lincolnshire will do more than choose their county councillors tomorrow – they will also elect their MEPs.

Five East Midlands MEP places will be decided – one less than at the last EU election and a small percentage of the 72 the UK will have.

In a letter to the Echo, José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, insisted that "the European Parliament is becoming ever more significant and will increase further in the future".

And he had this message for voters.

"Choose members of parliament that reflect your views on how to tackle the challenges we all face because what Europe does will affect you and your daily life."

The European Parliament is the only directly elected section of the entire institution – and its powers are limited.

Currently MEPs must share power with those appointed directly by member countries for decisions on issues including workers' rights, asylum and immigration and the environment.

The Lisbon Treaty would change that but it is currently blocked.

Lee Rotherham, policy analyst at The TaxPayers' Alliance, said voters view the EU "as something distant".

"They feel that they cannot influence policy going through the EU and cannot see how it can impact on their lives," he said.

"And there is real concern about how the vast amounts of money are being spent."

For more on how the European Parliament works, see Wednesday's Echo.