Ukip MEP Jane Collins invokes her European Parliament 'legal immunity' in British court

Jane Collins has been sued for libel and slander

UKIP's Jane Collins (left) looks on as Sarah Champion gives her acceptance speech after winning the 2012 Rotherham by-election (Getty)

A Ukip MEP has invoked legal “immunity” given to her by the European Parliament in a slander and libel case brought against her in a British court.

In 2014 Jane Collins made a speech at Ukip conference, which it was claimed, alleged that Rotherham’s three Labour MPs had known about child abuse in the town before it became public knowledge and had failed to act.

The MPs, Kevin Barron, John Healey and Sarah Champion, subsequently sued Ms Collins over the allegations, describing them as “deeply damaging and totally baseless”.

Ms Collins, who was her party’s candidate at the Rotherham by-election in 2012, said in a hearing on Monday that a letter would be arriving from the European Parliament to officially request “immunity” in the case.

On Tuesday judge Mr Justice Warby said he was obliged to grant a “stay” on the case until the European issue was revolved.

Gavin Millar QC, who is representing the Rotherham MPs, said in the High Court on Tuesday that eurosceptic Ms Collins was seeking “assert the primacy of this piece of EU law over the law and procedure in the court of England and Wales”.

At a hearing in April last year Judge Mr Justice Warby found Ms Collins had stated, as an allegation of fact, that each of the MPs knew many of the details of the exploitation yet deliberately chose not to intervene and allowed it to continue.

Her lawyers had argued that she had merely stated an opinion.

Members of the European Parliament receive some legal immunity (EPA)

A settlement to pay damages to the MPs was reached by her legal team, but Ms Collins has now applied to set the agreement aside, saying she did not give proper consent for it.

British MPs have parliamentary privilege to say anything they like in the House of Commons and in committees without fear of an action for slander – but can be sued for anything they say outside of the chamber.

Members of the European Parliament “shall not be subject to any form of inquiry, detention or legal proceedings in respect of opinions expressed or votes cast by them in the performance of their duties” and additionally receive the same privileges as national MPs.

The European Parliament however has the right to waive the immunity of any of its members, and it is not yet clear whether immunity applies in this case.

The Judge in the case must await the opinion of the European Parliament once he has been made aware of a bid for immunity, however.

The European Parliament says these protections are in place “to protect the freedom of expression and independence of Members of the European Parliament, as has been expressly recognised by the Court of Justice of the European Union”.

Rotherham’s three MPs said in a joint statement on the matter: “It is 18 months since we challenged the deeply damaging and totally baseless allegations Jane Collins made in a speech to the Ukip national conference. At every stage since then she’s tried to duck and delay the process of justice.

“The judge today was set to decide on the damages she must pay but instead the court was confronted by the absurd irony of a Ukip MEP claiming EU sovereignty and immunity as an MEP from action in the British courts.

“This may be justice delayed but it will not be justice denied. We are totally determined to hold her to account for the defamatory allegations she made against us.”

Ms Collins said Labour were “hypocrites”.

“EU law has been supreme to UK law since 1988 and this is something the Labour Party by supporting the remain campaign with to continue,” she said.

“It seems bizarre these three are so keen for UK law to be supreme when it suits them but not when it suits the country.”

Additional reporting by PA