was not regarded as a Labour target. He contested South East England as a member of the Labour list at the first election using proportional representation in 1999. In 2013 he put himself forward for the South East Region once again. The ordering of the list – with one male and one female candidate – was determined by a ballot of Labour Party members. John Howarth won the male ballot and was placed second on the list, the decision having been made prior to the selection that the winner of the female ballot would be top of the list. In the 2014 European Elections Labour fell short of the necessary share of the vote to secure two MEPs in the region. Anneliese Dodds, who had been placed first on the Labour list, represented the seat until 9 June 2017 when she was elected as MP for Oxford East in the 2017 General Election. In the 2019 European Elections, Howarth as sitting MEP led Labour's list in South East England and was elected to the South East region as the only Labour MEP. Work in the European Parliament Howarth served on the European Parliament's Budget Committee (BUDG), the Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee (IMCO) the Regional Development Committee (REGI) and the Budgetary Control Committee (CONT). He was Vice Chair of the Parliament's Delegation to the countries of South Asia (Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and the Maldives) and a member of delegations to CARIFORUM (the Caribbean nations), North Macedonia (then Macedonia) and Palestine. He was a member of the European Parliament Intergroups (all-party groups) for SMEs and for the Creative Industries. He was Rapporteur for the General Budget of the European Union for 2019, the Standing BUDG Rapporteur for the EU Space Programme and Fusion Energy and as BUDG rapporteur and S&D Group shadow on 2021-27 Multiannual Financial Framework legislation for the EU Space Programme, Horizon Europe (FP9), Creative Europe and Erasmus+. Personal life John Howarth is married to Jane Coney, a designer. He has two children from his first marriage. and a step daughter. John enjoys music (almost any sort) playing guitar, cooking and art. He swims and plays golf. He has followed Newcastle United since boyhood but came to follow Reading F.C. as his "second team". References External links Profile at European Parliament website 1958 births Living people Labour Party (UK) MEPs Members of Berkshire County Council