How Liberals in the European Parliament are on the winning side most of the time

11.11.00am GMT Tue 2nd Feb 2010

Sharon Bowles, Lib Dem MEP for the South East

An independent analysis by VoteWatch, a website set up to monitor the European Union's legislative process, has revealed that Liberal MEPs hold the balance of power in the European Parliament. With no political party having a majority, the 84-strong Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, to which the Liberal Democrats belong, is on the winning side of more than 90% of votes taken in the European Parliament.

Lib Dem MEP for the South East, Sharon Bowles, said: "As Chair of the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee, I see how important the European Parliament is in shaping legislation. Since the New Year began, my committee has interviewed four new European Commissioners and tabled thousands of amendments for proposed legislation that will repair the damage done to the economy by greed and systemic risk. This VoteWatch report has confirmed the important position the Liberal Democrats have in the European Parliament and of the role we play in law-making."

The VoteWatch report also reveals that UKIP and British Conservative MEPs are the least likely to win votes in the European Parliament.

After the June 2009 elections to the European Parliament, the British Conservatives decided to the leave the European Peoples' Party (EPP) group - the largest in the parliament - and to form a new group with smaller right-wing parties. As a result, they now have very little influence in the parliament, and hold no Chairs or other formal positions. By contrast, Sharon Bowles, as Chair of the Economic and Monetary Affairs committee, is now the most powerful Brit in the parliament - in fact, given the state of the global financial systems, she is quite possibly the most influential member of the European parliament from any country.