Last night, nominations closed for June’s European Parliament elections. The campaigns have begun in earnest. Chris Lloyd offers a beginners’ guide to the excitement in store.

THE NITTY-GRITTY ABOUT 375 million people from 27 European Union member states will be electing 736 MEPs in the European elections to be held from June 4 to June 7. Britain, which traditionally votes on a Thursday, is the first to go to the polls, along with the Netherlands, on Thursday, June 4. However, the UK’s results will not be announced until after all Europe’s polls have shut at 9pm on Sunday.

Local elections for councils and mayors are being held on the same day in some parts of the region. Their results will be made known immediately.

REGIONAL CONSTITUENCIES THE North-East – from the Tees Valley unitary councils to the Scottish border – has an electorate of 1.9m people which elects three MEPs. In Yorkshire and the Humber, the 3.7m electorate elects six. These are huge constituencies, and the MEPs are on a hiding to nothing trying to get round them. An impartial observer might note that the three North-Eastern MEPs have a far higher profile than the six MEPs south of the Tees. North Yorkshire may feel on the periphery of its MEPs’ patch.

EXPLAINING THE VOTE IN the last Euros in the North in 2004, an experiment in all-postal voting raised the turnout from less than 20 per cent to about 40 per cent. The experiment has been abandoned and you vote, as usual, in a polling station – unless you apply by May 19 for a postal ballot.

The elections use a form of Proportional Representation – as opposed to the first-pastthe- post system – whereby the number of seats the parties win depends on their percentage share of the vote.

The elections use the D’Hondt method of sharing out the seats. This was devised by Belgian mathematician Victor D’Hondt and is not easily understood by mere mortals.

D’Hondt operates on a “closed list” system.

The parties place their candidates on a list. If the mathematics mean they win one seat, the candidate who is top of their list will be elected. If they win three seats, their top three candidates will be elected.

Therefore, in the Euros, you vote for your preferred party, unlike in national or local elections where you vote for a candidate who usually represents a party. Although it is a complicated system, it is fairer, allowing a wider range of views to be heard.

WHAT IS THE JURY TEAM?

THE full list of local candidates is published on Page 25 as the deadline for nominations passed last night. All the usual parties are standing, but there is one new name: the Jury Team. It was launched in March for independent candidates who vote according to conscience. It is also anti-sleaze (although no political party says it is pro-sleaze).

The Jury Team’s top candidate in the North-East is Ahmed Khan, from South Shields, an independent councillor on South Tyneside council. Number one in Yorkshire is Barbara Hibbett, head of history at Harrogate Grammar School.

WHAT ARE THE OTHER MAIN PARTIES’ STANCES?

LABOUR is “pro-EU realism” by which it means positive engagement that will not leave Britain isolated. The Conservatives want a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty and are likely to join a more Euro-sceptic group in the European Parliament. The Lib Dems want close co-operation with Europe on economic and climate issues. Ukip wants out.

The Greens are campaigning for “green jobs”

to beat the recession. The BNP is dressing its literature up with pictures of Winston Churchill and is fervently anti-Europe.

SO THAT IS WHAT THESE ELECTIONS ARE ABOUT: BRITAIN’S PLACE IN EUROPE?

NO, of course not. The European elections will be decided by British politics and in particular the popularity of Gordon Brown and his Labour Government.

In 2004, Labour – under Tony Blair – did shockingly badly. It finished second with less than a quarter of the vote. Yet it recovered to win the 2005 General Election.

Labour can’t slip below 20 per cent and into third or fourth place without renewing its infighting.

David Cameron’s Conservatives are well ahead in the polls, and this is a fine opportunity for them to prove they can now win elections.

The Lib Dems did okay in 2004 and will be worried if disillusioned Labour voters cross straight to the Tories.

Ukip did extremely well in 2004, buoyed by a clear European message and by the recognition of Robert Kilroy Silk. He, though, has fallen out with everyone and has departed the scene, and Ukip’s momentum is in danger of fizzling out.

So who will take their votes?

The BNP is gaining in Labour’s traditional areas. It believes it has a real chance of winning its first major seats – probably in the North West where it may need only eight per cent of the vote.

But the big winner may be apathy: in 1999, before the all-postal experiment, the turnout in the North-East was only 19.58 per cent.

Does it fill you with excitement?