GETTY UN Security Council President Mark Rycroft and UK Foreign Secretary Phillip Hammond

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The “preposterously impertinent” declaration from the European Parliament followed a vote by MEPs last week that saw nearly 500 of them declare that the UK and France do not represent European views enough to warrant their place. It comes as Eurocrats try to bolster the EU’s position as a global player amid criticisms that the Paris terror attacks and the migrant crisis prove that the open borders is a failing concept. It also emerged that Europeans face having their fingerprints checked every time they travel to Britain under new security proposals confirmed by the Home Office. The MEPs’ vote, prompted by Finn Paavo Väyrynen, was met with incredulity last night.

AFP/GETTY The news comes in the wake of the deadly attacks in Paris which killed more than 130 people

David Campbell Bannerman MEP, co-chairman of the influential Eurosceptic Conservatives for Britain group, said: “This is an outrageous and dangerous powergrab from the EU. Britain has already been forced to relinquish its seat at the World Trade Organisation by the EU, which means we have lost our ability to negotiate international trade deals. The EU is always trespassing in nation state areas. “This is proof of a determined push towards ever-closer union and creation of an EU superstate. “It would spell the end of Britain being at the heart of international defence and security at a time when the world faces an unprecedented terrorist threat.” Conservative Gerald Howarth MP said: “It’s an absurdity. Europe is not a nation state and it is preposterous impertinence to suggest they should supplant two leading nation states which are both nuclear powers.”

AP The recent influx of refugees from the Middle East has destabilised much of mainland Europe

Ukip leader Nigel Farage added: “I warned last year that Brussels wanted a European army and a seat on the UN Security Council. Nick Clegg called me a liar and said I was talking a dangerous fantasy.

It would spell the end of Britain being at the heart of international defence and security David Campbell Bannerman MEP

“There are no sensitivities towards any British interests in the European Parliament. They are hell-bent on building a United States of Europe.” The timing of the vote, during the run-up to a UK referendum on Europe, was particularly misjudged, said Professor Wyn Grant of Warwick University. “Both France and Britain have been members of the UN Security Council from the beginning and they are Europe’s only nuclear powers,” he said. “The problem with the EU having a seat would be getting a consensus. Britain and France agree most of the time. The same can’t be said for the rest of Europe.”

GETTY UN Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon has endured a particularly turbulent time in global geopolitics