A PUBLIC demonstration was held today against the Suffolk-based East of England Regional Assembly.

Laurence Cawley

A PUBLIC demonstration was held today against the Suffolk-based East of England Regional Assembly.

Members of the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) gathered outside the Atheneaum in Bury St Edmunds - where members of the regional assembly gathered for a meeting - to call for the organisation to be abolished.

David Campbell Bannerman, deputy leader of UKIP, said: “EERA is an undemocratic disgrace and an obscene waste of money in these hard economic times. This body reports directly to the European Union and not to the people it purports to represent.”

Kevan Lim, chairman of EERA's Europe and International Affairs Panel which met today, said: “I was surprised at the UKIP protest today. “The Europe panel acts as the voice of local government in the region both in lobbying the European Commission and ensuring the region gets the maximum financial benefit from Europe. This is more efficient and cost effective than individual local authorities going to Brussels.

“The Region has been very successful in getting many millions of pounds from Europe.

“The question people should be asking is why the only MEPs who never meet with us are UKIP despite regular invitations and what the UKIP MEPs are actually doing to earn the thousands of pounds of taxpayers money they are paid.”