Yorkshire MEP Magid Magid: I love the European Union but I have to be honest and want it to be better
Former Sheffield Lord Mayor Magid Magid may only have four months as an MEP for Yorkshire and the Humber but he's determined to make as much noise as possible in his new role, including a tour of the region he represents. Rob Parsons reports.
In the centre of leafy Harrogate, a stone's throw from the queue for the ever-popular Bettys tea rooms, a 20-strong choir of pro-EU campaigners is in full voice.
Two-part harmonies waft gently on the breeze as the beret-clad choir, backed by guitar and saxophone, belt out re-worded versions of well-known songs to include lines about being 'forever European' and insulting arch-Brexiteers Johnson, Farage and Rees-Mogg.
A small gaggle of amused onlookers gather round, though not surprisingly in a town where the population voted narrowly in favour of staying in the EU three years ago, not everyone is happy to see them. 'Leave means leave' yells one man as he walks by.
Unmistakable among the singers in a backwards yellow baseball cap is Magid Magid, Green Party MEP for Yorkshire and the Humber, joining in the songs and occasionally breaking off to pose for selfies with passers-by.
It's the penultimate stop on a week-long tour that has taken Mr Magid, who served as Lord Mayor of Sheffield for an eventful year before being voted onto the European Parliament in May, around Yorkshire's leave-voting hotspots at a time when many Brussels politicians are on holiday.
And speaking to The Yorkshire Post in a coffee shop later that afternoon, the Somalia-born 30-year-old said he wanted to address the "massive disconnect between MEPs and people who actually vote in the elections".
He predicts an extension to the Brexit process beyond Boris Johnson's "do or die" deadline, but if his term in office ends on October 31 he says he would "hate to think that out of four months being an MEP I had a month of holiday".
Describing his tour of Yorkshire and the Humber taking in Hull, Grimsby, Barnsley, Doncaster, Wakefield and Rotherham, among others, the former Sheffield councillor says he wants to make sure people's views are heard in a region that voted strongly in favour of leave.
"Whatever they voted for I have still got a responsibility to represent them", he says. "People have got some concerns, it's not necessarily the fault of the EU. People are saying it's hard to get on the housing ladder, there aren't enough school places, you can put that down to austerity, it is down to failed government policy. It is just giving that time and telling people I am listening.
"It's also to represent Yorkshire and the Humber I need to understand it as well as I possibly can. it is rich and diverse in so many ways, whether that is people, landscapes, ideas, character. The more I am taking in Yorkshire and the Humber the better I can represent it."