THEY approve laws that affect you, have two headquarters in Brussels and Strasbourg and cost taxpayers an estimated £1.8m each every year.

But do you know who your MEPs are?

There are 751 members of the European Parliament (MEPs), who are all directly elected by voters in member states. It is the second largest parliament – after that of India – in the world.

Oxfordshire is represented by 10 MEPs for the South East. But a snap poll of our readers online found 58 per cent could not name a single one of their representatives, with only 32 per cent able to identify one to three of them.

Just 10 per cent could name more than three MEPs, with 125 people responding overall.

This lack of knowledge is reflected nationally in turnout for European Parliament elections.

Turnout in 2014 was 35.6 per cent. This compares to 61.4 per cent for the UK General Election in 2015, leading to accusations that its influence on Britain is disproportionate to its mandate.

One of the South East’s MEPs, independent Janice Atkinson, says this is because “the British are just not interested”.

She claimed the EU was “un-reformable and driving towards a United States of Europe”, adding: “The best thing we can do to take back control and for accountability is to vote Brexit.

“The EU’s Commissioners have stated that the only way forward is more Europe, more integration, more immigration and higher taxes.”

Ms Atkinson also said the European Parliament and the MEPs’ salary of £77,000 was “a terrible waste of money”.

According to the European Parliament, its annual running costs amount to about £1.33bn – more than four times the cost of the UK Parliament, about £385m a year.

However, the EU points out that this is like “comparing apples and oranges”. Because it operates in 23 official languages, it must pay for translation and interpretation and unlike the British Parliament it does not own the buildings it sits in and has rent and leasehold costs.

Because of a decision agreed in treaties by member states, it adds, it operates in both Brussels, in Belgium, and in Strasbourg, France, leading to extra costs in travel, staffing and upkeep of buildings.

Ms Atkinson said she was elected to oppose the EU and so votes against most legislation, claiming it “hasn’t accomplished anything in that time other than to interfere with the power of our hairdryers and vacuum cleaners” in the two years she has been in office.

But Catherine Bearder, the South East’s Liberal Democrat MEP, said there were several major campaigns that would help the average person, including clamping down on “excessive” mobile phone roaming charges abroad, with these fees set to be abolished in the EU by June 2017.

She said this was “a massive win for British consumers”.

Ms Bearder is also championing the protection of animals such as elephants “from the catastrophic rates of poaching” and has been a leading campaigner on air quality, a serious problem in Oxford – where we are in breach of quality limits set by the EU.

Other work on human trafficking has also seen the EU legislate for better protection of female victims and a motion put forward by Ms Bearder and supported by MEPs could mean plastic micro-beads in cosmetic products are banned.

She said the work of parliament could be better publicised.

“Better reporting of the debates would give citizens a better understanding of the way laws are formed and improved by the MEPs.

“Our parliament works more constructively than the ‘Punch and Judy politics’ of the House of Commons.”

She added: “Democracy costs and, on the face of it, it looks expensive. But apart from my salary and travel and subsistence costs the rest of the ‘cost’ of an MEP goes in rent and administration.

“An MEP has a well-paid job, but it carries responsibilities as you would expect to any elected post.

“It is up to voters to judge if I am value for money, but I do the best that I can for them.”

HOW IT WORKS

ACCORDING to the charity Full Fact and the independent thinktank UK in a Changing Europe,“the EU far surpasses other international organisations in its democratic control, just as it reaches into far more areas of public policy”.

There arethreeinstitutions behind law-making.

The Council of Ministers, made up of heads of state, the European Commission, comprised of commissioners and a president, and the European Parliament of 751 MEPs. EU citizens directlyelect its parliament and its approval is generally needed for new laws.

These elections also shape the choice of the European Commission President, currently Jean-Claude Juncker, who needs to have the approval of parliament.

Thecommission’s job is to propose new legislation, taking direction from the Council of Ministers. For legislation to be approved it must have the backing of the council and of the parliament.

In addition, member states have accepted that the EU creates a set of legal rights. These apply not only for states but to EU citizens and they cannot be overridden by those countries.

The European Court says its treaties constitute a “constitutionalcharter”, with its intervention in domestic affairs – such as ruling that UK laws stripping prisoners of their vote in elections is against their fundamental rights – sometimes proving unpopular.

The court’s rulings can overrule those of the UK Supreme Court.