Bloom's Damascene conversion

Not content with enjoining Britain's women to clean behind their 'fridges, Mr Godfrey Bloom, UKIP MEP for Yorkshire and Humberside is now extolling the virtues of, er… the European Union.

Commenting on a draft strategy released by the Forestry Commission on its plans to increase tree planting in North Lincolnshire, as a means of reducing the risk of flooding, the egregious Bloom urged the EU to "pay up" for the scheme, telling the Scunthorpe Telegraph that "this should be a good example of how the EU works for the common good".

Bloom's only fear was that "the truth may not match the hype" and instead of receiving a cornucopia of riches from the EU, "we will end up paying twice - once to help in Germany via our tax sent to the EU and once via our domestic taxes".

Such is the egregious Bloom's limited grasp of the issues, that he seems unaware that Germany is the largest net contributor to EU funds, and therefore it is unlikely that any of our taxpayers money will be used in this way.

Nor indeed does he seem to realise that, even if the EU did "pay up", the British taxpayer would end up paying through the nose anyway (as we saw with the Scottish grant of EU funding).

Even then the absurdities continue to stack up. This scheme is apparently to be supported by Yorkshire Forward, the Regional Development Agency - responsible for the sustainable economic development and regeneration of the Yorkshire and Humber area – and part of the regional structure that UKIP supposedly so detests.

Nevertheless, we await with interest the views of Yorkshire and Humberside UKIP voters on their MEP’s Damascene conversion.