Campaigning MEP Anthea McIntyre has been honoured by the European Taxpayers’ Association for her outstanding work in standing up for small business.

Anthea, who lives in Walford, Ross-on-Wye, and is the Conservative MEP for the West Midlands, received the award for her work on the European Parliament’s Employment and Social Affairs Committee, where she is co-ordinator for the European Conservatives and Reformists Group.

Her work there has included a series of reports and initiatives promoting better regulation and highlighting the damage done to small and medium-sized enterprises  (SMEs) by burdensome red tape.

Earlier this year she presented the EU Commission a report on how an annual burden survey should be applied to gauge the impact of legislation on business. In coming weeks she will publish a report promoting nudge theory, which explores how better information and persuasion can work better than hitting business with legislation and compulsion.

The local MEP said: “I am delighted to have been awarded this certificate of honour from an organisation which wants only the best for taxpayers.

“SMEs are the life blood of our economy. When they do well,  business as a whole does well. They are the green shoots of our prosperity and we must nurture them.

“They need the space and freedom to grow - not strangling by over-regulation. This had been my goal throughout my time in Brussels.”