THOUSANDS of people will head to the polls once again this month, but this time they will be voting for members of the European Parliament who may not even take their seats.

After months of talks and uncertainty over the position of the UK in this year’s European elections, residents across the country will be asked to elect the British members of the European Parliament, the MEPs.

However, the newly-elected MEPs could serve a very short term or even no term at all, as the UK may be leaving the EU before July 2, which is when MEPs will take up their seats.

But despite the Brexit turmoil, on Thursday voters in the UK will choose 73 MEPs in 12 multi-member regional constituencies, which are much bigger than the constituencies in which the country is broken down for the general elections.

Each region has a different number of MEPs based on its population.

The South East region, within which Southampton falls, is represented by ten MEPs.

Independent candidates and candidates for Change UK, Conservative, Labour, Green, Liberal Democrats, The Brexit Party, The Socialist Party of Great Britain, UKIP and UK European Union Party will all stand in the South East region.

Residents will have the opportunity to cast their votes between 7am and 10pm on Thursday. But the results will be kept secret until all voting is finished across Europe as counting will be done on a country-by-country basis.

The results are then expected to be announced from 10pm on May 26.

MEPs will be elected by proportional representation in order as listed by their party, based on the parties’ total share of vote in each region.

The 10 MEPs who will represent the South East will not just cover Hampshire but a much wider area which includes Surrey, Sussex, Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Kent.

The MEPs are the directly elected part of the European Parliament and play an important role in passing European laws.

There are 751 MEPs in total.

If the UK is still part of the EU by July 2, the newly-elected MEPs will be asked to approve the final Brexit deal and vote to elect the new president of the European Commission who will replace Jean-Claude Juncker.

As reported, MPs are expected to vote on the Brexit deal in early June. This week Theresa May is set to begin discussions with senior ministers on her proposed new “bold offer” to MPs in a final attempt to get her Brexit deal through Parliament.

The weekly meeting of the Cabinet is expected to sign off on a package of measures to be included in the forthcoming Withdrawal Agreement Bill (WAB) aimed at winning cross-party support.

Candidates in order of their parties

Change UK

  • Richard Ashworth
  • Victoria Groulef
  • Warren Morgan
  • Eleanor Fuller
  • Robin Bextor
  • Nicholas Mazzei
  • Suzana Carp
  • Phil Murphy
  • Heather Allen
  • Diane Yeo

Conservative

  • Daniel Hannan
  • Nirj Deva
  • Richard Robinson
  • Mike Whiting
  • Juliette Ash
  • Anna Firth
  • Adrian Pepper
  • Clarence Mitchell
  • Neva Sadikoglu-Novaky
  • Caroline Newton

Green

  • Alexandra Phillips
  • Elise Benjamin
  • Vix Lowthion
  • Leslie Groves Williams
  • Phelim Mac Cafferty
  • Jan Doerfel
  • Larry Sanders
  • Isabella Moir
  • Oliver Sykes
  • Jonathan Essex

Labour

  • John Howarth
  • Cathy Shutt
  • Arran Neathey
  • Emma Turnbull
  • Rohit Dasgupta
  • Amy Fowler
  • Duncan Enright
  • Lubna Arshad
  • Simon Burgess
  • Rachael Ward

Liberal Democrats

  • Catherine Bearder
  • Antony Hook
  • Judith Bunting
  • Martin Tod
  • Liz Leffman
  • Chris Bowers
  • Giles Goodall
  • Ruvi Ziegler
  • Nick Perry
  • John Vincent

The Brexit Party

  • Nigel Farage
  • Alex Phillips
  • Robert Rowland
  • Belinda De Camborne Lucy
  • James Bartholomew
  • Christopher Ellis
  • John Kennedy
  • Matthew Taylor
  • George Farmer
  • Peter Wiltshire

The Socialist Party of Great Britain

  • Mandy Bruce
  • Raymond Carr
  • David Chesham
  • Robert Cox
  • Michael Foster
  • Stephen Harper
  • Neil Kirk
  • Anton Pruden
  • Andrew Thomas-Emans
  • Darren Williams

UK European Union Party

  • Pacelli Ndikumana
  • Clinton Powell

UKIP

  • Piers Wauchope
  • Liz Philips
  • Daryll Pitcher
  • Martin Brothers
  • Tony Gould
  • Clive Egan
  • Troy De Leon
  • Alan Stone
  • Judy Moore
  • Patricia Mountain

Independent

  • Jason McMahon
  • David Round
  • Michael Turberville