Unknown to take EU seat after row over nepotism

But eurosceptics and europhiles alike are still questioning a system which will now see a practically-unknown London-based consultant suddenly catapulted into the Brussels Parliament to represent Yorkshire without any need for a fresh public vote.

The Yorkshire Post revealed yesterday that Stewart Arnold, the husband and special adviser of Hull-based Liberal Democrat MEP Diana Wallis, has decided not to take over his wife’s seat when she steps down on Tuesday, mid-way through her five-year term.

As the Lib Dems’ second-choice candidate at the last European elections, Mr Arnold was entitled to take the seat without a new vote under the EU’s proportional representation system.

But the couple have faced a week of mounting pressure, with politicians from all sides attacking the possibility of a Parliamentary seat simply being handed from husband to wife. One Lib Dem party whip resigned his job in protest.

Following Mr Arnold’s decision to step aside on Thursday, the seat has now been offered to the Lib Dems’ third-choice candidate from the 2007 selection process.

Rebecca Taylor, 36, is originally from Todmorden, but now working in London as a public affairs consultant for communications firm Hanover.

A party spokesman said Ms Taylor “will take a few days to discuss the matter privately” ahead of an announcement on Monday.

Earlier in the week, however, Ms Taylor made it clear she would be keen to take up the position as one of Yorkshire’s six MEPs.

“It would be a great privilege and honour for me to serve the people of Yorkshire,” she told the Yorkshire Post on Tuesday. “That’s why I stood for selection in 2007, and I would accept that responsibility now. Nothing has changed.”

But concerns are now being raised by opposition politicians about the legitimacy of a selection process which will see a relatively-unknown figure, who garnered a minority of votes in a party selection process five years ago, being handed all the trappings of office .

Rotherham MP Denis Macshane, Labour’s former Europe minister, said: “It’s quite preposterous that someone who was registered far down the voting list suddenly pops up and gets a huge office and staff and all the rest.

“As a so-called ‘European expert’ in this region, I have never heard of this lady, never seen her, know nothing about what she stands for.... I wake up to find myself being represented by someone who is virtually unknown to 99.9 per cent of the electorate.

“There is a problem over the democratic legitimacy and I think we need to find a way for the public to have their say.”

In a rare moment of unity between europhile and eurosceptic, Mr Macshane’s comments were supported by Yorkshire’s UKIP MEP Godfrey Bloom.

“I do think it’s a very big hole in the system,” he said. “I think there should be a system where people can actually have a say over this.”

Mr Bloom added that he felt Mr Arnold “has made the right decision” in not accepting the seat, following his wife’s sudden decision to quit her seat after a failed bid to become president.

David Ward, Lib Dem MP for Bradford East, agreed, saying: “Legally it had all gone through the correct processes, but there is something about the way it looked... Even though he had the perfect entitlement to take the place, I am not sorry because it certainly did not look good.”