Stewart Arnold's full statement on declining MEP post:

"After a full consideration, I have made the decision not to take up the post of MEP for Yorkshire and the Humber. One of the contributory factors of Diana's resignation was her illness (as outlined in her letter of resignation) and I decided in the short term to give her the support she needs and not to take up the seat which would inevitably involve long periods away from home. I notified the Party on Thursday morning.

The full version of Diana's resignation letter:

Dear friend

This is not an easy letter to write to inform you of my decision to resign as your Member of the European Parliament. You may have seen various reports in the press. I had hoped that this letter would have come to you first but unfortunately others decided to release the news in advance of what I was informed would officially be the case.

Diana has posted her 'thank you' as her bid to become the next President of the European Parliament ended in disappointment today.

The favoured candidate, the German Socialist, Martin Schulz polled 387 votes, with Nerj Deva, a British Tory, winning 142 votes and Diana, who stood as an independent, getting 141. This was the best ever showing by an Independent candidate in an election for the President of the European Parliament.
The successful candidate needed at least 336, or an absolute majority of votes, for victory. A total of 670 valid votes were cast with 29 being 'spoilt'.

On Friday Diana visited the HQ of Karma Nirvana, a registered charity which operates nationally, supporting victims and survivors of forced marriages and honour based violence. The visit coincides with the launch of the public consultation on whether forced marriages should be considered a specific criminal offence.

Diana has set out her manifesto for her candidacy in the race to become the next President of the European Parliament. Diana was joined by MEPs supporting her campaign at a press conference in the Strasbourg parliament. The election will take place on 17th January 2012.

Diana said at the press conference:

Diana has warmly welcomed the additional money to be given by the government to schools in the Yorkshire & the Humber region to help them support children from deprived backgrounds.

The Department for Education has announced that England's most disadvantaged pupils will benefit from £600 each in 'Pupil Premium' next year, an increase of £112 for each pupil and making total of £1.25 billion nationally in 2012-13.

Along with fellow European Parliament Vice-President Isabelle Durant, Diana has initiated a campaign in the European Parliament to show MEPs that they can make a difference when it comes to reducing the effect of what has been termed the European Parliament's 'travelling circus'.

Once a month the entire Parliament ups sticks and heads from its normal home inBrusselsto meet inStrasbourg, a distance of 436kms. All MEPs offices have a trunk (used to transport papers and other materials) which is collected on Friday, driven toStrasbourgand then returned toBrusselsonce the session is over. Currently eight vans travel toStrasbourgeach month and each van carries 375 trunks. If MEPs however leave their trunks standing up it will not be taken by the movers on the trip toStrasbourg; a fact that is not widely known. So now Diana Wallis and Isabelle Durant have launched a campaign under the heading 'Stand up your trunk, don't take it toStrasbourg'.