Jane Maria Collins (born 17 February 1962) is a British politician and horse show-jumper who served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for Yorkshire and the Humber from 2014 to 2019.

[8] Collins stood for UKIP in the March 2011 Barnsley Central by-election triggered by the resignation of Labour MP Eric Illsley over the UK parliamentary expenses scandal.

The timing combined with press reports concerning child sexual exploitation in Rotherham led to questions about the selection of the Labour candidate for police and crime commissioner, Shaun Wright who had been the cabinet member of the council responsible for children's services.

[15] In November 2014, whilst campaigning for UKIP in the 2014 South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner by-election, Collins appeared to imply that Mark Russell, head of the evangelistic charity Church Army, was a paedophile.

Collins originally refused to apologise, but eventually deleted the tweet and offered to make a donation to the charity after Russell threatened to sue her.

In her defence, Collins said she apologised unreservedly and admitted “I’m a bit hot headed sometimes.”[16][17] She stood again for UKIP in Rotherham during the May 2015 general election.

In September 2014 at a UKIP conference, Collins falsely alleged that three MPs, Sarah Champion, John Healey and Kevin Barron had known about widespread child sex abuse in Rotherham and failed to do anything about it.

Under EU law "MEPs 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".

[22] Collins added she believed there were grounds for an appeal and was determined to fight the decision to make the "voices of Rotherham sexual exploitation survivors and their families heard".

In a statement, the three MPs said "We welcome the decision of the European Parliament and hope this matter can at long last now be brought to a conclusion in the High Court.

This has gone on for over two years and she has tried every delaying tactic she can - including the absurd irony of a UKIP Euro MP trying to claim immunity from the European Parliament to avoid facing justice in the British courts.

This liability arose because UKIP was held to have delayed settlement of the case before the United Kingdom general election of 2015 for party political reasons.

[citation needed] Collins ran to be the leader of UKIP following the resignation of Paul Nuttall (MEP) after the party's poor showing in a series of elections in 2017.