20 Written explanations of Ann WIDDECOMBE

The Brexit Party voted against this non-legislative resolution. Principally, The Brexit Party oppose the EU’s infringement proceedings against any sovereign nation. We believe that the governments of these nations, who were democratically elected unlike many EU lawmakers, have the right to enact the policies that they have elected on. For these reasons, we voted against calls for further hearings with Poland and Hungary.

Brexit Party MEPs voted abstained on this non-legislative, non-binding report. The European Ombudsman has done a decent job on investigating issues within the Commission and EU institutions. The report praises the Ombudsman and lightly calls for more transparency with the EU structure.

The Brexit Party have voted to abstain on this legislative report. Whilst we support the principle of cooperation with neighboring countries, particularly when this concerns combatting serious crime and terrorism, we cannot support this being facilitated via the EU. As we believe these agreements should be conducted bilaterally, we abstained on this report.

Brexit Party MEPs have abstained on this consent vote. This is a technical amendment to bring the agreement in line with EU rules, and therefore we felt it most appropriate to abstain.

Although the Brexit party opposes EU tax harmonisation, and does not support EU legislation over the UK, these provisions would reduce the scope of VAT and so we abstained.

Brexit Party MEPs voted against this motion for a resolution. We do not support the EU spending trillions of euros and harmonising laws and targets. If Member States wish to achieve climate objectives, it should be on their own terms and not the EUs. Brexit Party MEPs voted on a number of amendments, in order to reduce the extent of targets and increases in EU legislation.

The Resolution regrets the loss of Freedom of Movement and seeks to reverse the burden of proof for Settled Status, accordingly the Brexit Party voted against.

The Brexit Party voted against this non-legislative report. Whilst we respect the importance of the human rights issues raised within this report we are opposed to the European Union becoming involved. We are firmly opposed to the increasing use of serious human rights issue abroad as justification for the enhancement of the EU's foreign policy apparatus.

The Brexit Party voted against this non-legislative report. We are opposed to the development of the EU's strategic autonomy and the further transfer of foreign policy decision making to the EU level.

The Brexit Party voted against this non-legislative report. We are opposed to the development of the European Defence Union. Defence of the realm is fundamental to nation-state sovereignty and should remain the responsibility of the member-states.

The Brexit Party MEPs abstained on this non-legislative, non-binding resolution. While there were elements in this report we opposed such as calling for transnational lists for EU elections, along with our concern this conference will just be an echo chamber for EU elites to convince themselves there needs to be greater centralisation of powers and spending of money at EU level, as the UK is leaving it wasn't our place to be part of those discussions.

The Brexit Party voted against any increases to individual EU budget lines and voted in favour of any cuts to EU budget lines. This vote was a series of amendments to the actual figures and size of each EU budget for the year 2020. Before it arrived in Parliament for amendment, the Commission had initially proposed a budget worth EUR 168.3 billion (+1.3% compared to 2019). The Council then adopted its position of EUR 166.8 billion (slightly lower). Now it was Parliament’s turn, which ended up being much higher than either the Commission or the Council positions. There will now be a negotiation period with the Council to find a compromise. A full UK contribution for 2020 is included in the proposal.

The Brexit Party voted against this non-legislative, non-binding resolution on the EU budget for 2020. The resolution was a shopping list of what MEPs wanted from the EU budget in 2020, with many calls for radially increased funding in many areas of EU policy. The Brexit Party voted against any calls to increase the EU budget and voted in favour of any amendments to decrease the budget.

The Brexit Party voted to refuse granting discharge to the Asylum office. The discharge procedure is a process by which the European Parliament looks at the individual budgets and spending of each EU institution to give a positive or negative appraisal.In this specific case, the asylum office has had a number of problems, such as errors in payments amounting to EUR 7.7 million, breaches of procurement procedures, misappropriation of funds, mismanagement, abuse of position in human resources issues, breaches of data protection rules, harassment and inappropriate behaviour towards staff.The Brexit Party voted to refuse discharge due to all these problems, along with our principled position that we oppose British taxpayers’ having to pay for all these EU institutions and agencies.

The Brexit Party voted to refuse granting discharge to the Council. The discharge procedure is a process by which the European Parliament looks at the individual budgets and spending of each EU institution to give a positive or negative appraisal.Historically the Council refuses to cooperate with the Parliament in this discharge procedure, as it contests the legal base for the Parliament to oversee its budget and 2017 was no different.We voted to refuse discharge as we believe there should be more transparency in how the Council spends its budget, along with our principled position that we oppose British taxpayers’ having to pay for all these EU institutions and agencies.

I abstained on this resolution because it should be a decision made at nation state level and not by the EU for all 28 Member States.

The Brexit Party have voted to abstain on this legislative report. Firstly, we do not believe that a no-deal Brexit would lead to significant job losses. That being said, as the UK would have left the EU by the time this legislation takes effect, and the UK would therefore have no legal obligation to contribute to this fund, the decision should be a matter for the remaining Member States to take as to how they wish this for this fund to be utilised. For this reason, the Brexit Party abstained on this report.

. ‒ The Brexit Party voted against this legislation for access to waters between the EU and the UK because the proposed arrangement is in practice very one-sided: the EU gets far more benefit than the UK and would therefore be able to continue to plunder UK waters, just as it has for decades.

. ‒ Brexit Party MEPs voted against this piece of legislation. This proposal is to allow the UK to continue making full budgetary contributions to the EU in 2020, in the event of a no-deal Brexit. The UK will have to meet a number of conditions such as adhering to a deadline to inform the Commission in writing that payments will be made, that the payment schedule is made on time and into a specific bank account, that the UK allows OLAF and EU auditing of EU funds on its territory.This will mean the UK can still get EU funding for 2020, that UK entities can bid for most (but not all) EU public tenders, and ensure payments for EU contracts to public and private entities in 2020 continue. However, some rights for the UK will be curtailed such as not having representation on management committees or expert groups.The Brexit Party voted against as we want a clean-break Brexit to stop making full budget payments to the EU and we believe that the UK Government should make up the shortfall for UK entities and universities that are currently receiving EU funds.

. ‒ The Brexit Party voted in favour of this legislative report. The report seeks to ensure that air and road travel is not disrupted in the case of a no-deal Brexit by updating the date of implementation to take into account the seven-month extension, as the dates in the original legislation will soon be expiring. The Brexit Party voted in favour as we support the European Parliament’s efforts to prepare for no-deal by putting contingencies in place to ensure that air and road travel is not disrupted, despite the European Union’s insistence that this would not be possible, and therefore proving that future and sincere cooperation is feasible in a no-deal scenario.