MEP Richard Howitt has come out fighting after the TaxPayers’ Alliance branded him the tenth worst MEP in the country.

The Labour politician labelled a survey released by the campaign group as pre-election smear tactics and vigorously disputed its findings, which put him among the worst performing of all the country’s 78 MEPs.

The survey assessed all of UK members of the European parliament on the number of Paliamentary questions they asked over the past year, their campaigning activity, expenses transparency, voting record, red tape, spending controls and anti-corruption legislation.

The report, released yesterday, just two days before the European elections, puts Mr Howitt among the bottom performers with just a four per cent performance rating.

The best in the country was 71 per cent performance rate by Northern Ireland MEP Jim Allister. The joint worst were tory MPs Christopher Beazley, who represents the Eastern Region and Den Dover, (north West) who both polled bottom with scores of nought per cent.

Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “While some MEPs have been out in Brussels doing a good job for taxpayers, others have been letting people down.

“Across all parties there are MEPs who have worked hard, been transparent and stood up for taxpayers’ interests, while some of their colleagues have cashed in the pay cheques, turned up sparingly and voted against the national interest.

“All MEPs’ expenses and voting records must be made fully transparent so people can see what kind of deal we really get from our representatives in Brussels.”

Mr Howitt, an Eastern region Euro MP since 1994, said his expenses were “totally transparent” and have been widely publicised for the past nine years.

He also said that official statistics from the European Parliament show he actually has a high attendance record.

He said: “I have a better attendance record than any other Euro MEP in the region and I have the figures to prove it.

“This has all come from a far right group which has a history of being against MEPs.

“I think they have been very selective with the figures they have taken into account.”

Mr Howitt said he was recently given a five-star performance grading from the European Parliament and named the most active of the seven MEPs who represent Essex in the European Parliament.