Lesbian UKIP MEP leaves European group
A lesbian MEP for the UK Independence Party has left the group her party joined in the European Parliament.
Nikki Sinclaire announced this week that she was leaving the Europe of Freedom and Democracy (EFD) group after a breakdown in her relationship with UKIP’s leader in Europe Nigel Farage.
She wrote in a statement: “My working relationship and trust with EFD co-president Nigel Farage has broken down since his personal admittance [sic] to me recently that he wished I had not been elected.”
Sinclaire, who is an MEP for the West Midlands, also cited “extremism” from the Italian party in the grouping, Lega Nord. Instead, she will sit with a group of MEPs who have not joined any coalition.
She wrote: “I have decided to move to this non-attached group as I have found it increasingly difficult to justify sitting alongside one or two of the European parties within the EFD group who have a variety of extremist views which includes anti-Semitism, violence and the espousal of a single European policy on immigration.”
Farage stood down as leader of UKIP in order to challenge Speaker John Bercow for his Buckingham seat.
Sinclaire came third in the leadership vote in September. She was elected as an MEP last year.
