Outgoing MEP's reflections on leaving Brussels

Jill Seymour, who was elected as a Ukip MEP for the West Midlands at the 2014 election, officially leaves her post on Monday.

Mrs Seymour, now a member of Nigel Farage's Brexit Party, had been a vocal campaigner for Britain to leave the European Union. She did not seek re-election in May this year, when Britain unexpectedly went to the polls again after failing to leave the EU on March 29.

She served as Ukip's transport spokesman and campaigned fiercely against HS2, as well as EU calls for tighter regulation in the haulage industry.

Mrs Seymour, who lives in Kynnersley, near Telford, has also called for the simplification of the UK’s rail pricing structure and the removal of fees on the M6 Toll road.

She said she would continue to fight against 'anti-car legislation', and planned to continue her post as patron of the Alliance of British Drivers.

“I’m all for the encouragement of policies promoting clean air, but do worry that some people will struggle financially to make the move to such things as electric cars," she said.

"I question how the infrastructure will ever be sufficiently in place.

“There are many other unanswered questions: for example, what does it mean to classic car drivers, will electric vehicles have the same pulling power and resilience in our changing climate, and isn’t it dangerous to put all our eggs in one basket, and rely on a single form of power to keep us on the roads?”

Mrs Seymour described her five years commuting between Wellington, Brussels and Strasbourg as a rollercoaster ride.

"It has been an amazing but frustrating time," she said.

“It is astonishing, in this modern era, that the European parliament constantly ups sticks between Strasbourg and Brussels for a farcical process which means transporting all staff and MEPs for the sake of just three days of voting each month.

“If the EU is serious about wanting to save the planet, it could start by looking at its own carbon footprint, and tackling the mountain of wasted paper caught up in all this bloated bureaucracy.”

She said it was scandalous that, more than three years after voting to leave the EU, Brexit had not been delivered.

"It is ridiculous that we have had to go through the costly and farcical process of electing another set of MEPs that we don’t need, and that the EU certainly doesn’t want," said Mrs Seymour.

“People supported Brexit because they are fed up of being controlled by Europe.

"This is very, very different from saying we want to pull up the drawbridge and completely isolate ourselves from our neighbours.

“We just want to wrestle back control of our own rules, regulations, and legislation. I campaigned passionately for Brexit because I believe it will always be the British people who know what is best for our strong, proud, and resilient island nation.”