In 2001 I gave to the Conservatives what was, I believe, the biggest donation they had ever received and I continue to remain a regular supporter. Yet I shall vote UKIP in the European elections on 4 June and I have just given them a decent donation.

Why? The answer is simple. The European Union (the EU) is a disaster, even worse than the recession because the recession will end some time but the EU may not.

I want the voters, in the European elections, to send a clear message to the leading parties that they really do mind intensely about the massive harm our membership is doing to us.

The parties ought to know that already, from recent polls (of which more later), but they do not.

Labour loves the EU. On Wednesday Gordon Brown spoke of a Europe of peace and unity which would rank among the finest achievements of human history.

The Conservatives, though perhaps more eurosceptic than Labour, just wish no one would talk about the EU so that they can win the general election in peace.

This country has not been successfully invaded since William the Conqueror in 1066, yet most of our laws are now made in Brussels by unelected commissioners, who impoverish the people of the EU, while making fortunes for themselves. At the same time the Hungarians threaten that five million unemployed migrants will head West unless we bail them out. How much do they want? About £160 billion!

What is wrong with the EU and why is it so important? Above all – cost – it is astronomic. The chief difficulty for those who want to draw attention to it is that the figures are so awful that people think they cannot be true.

The well known economist Patrick Minford and the merchant banker Ian Milne put the cost at about £1,000 per annum for every man, woman, child and baby in this country.

Others think it is far more. Let us stick with £1,000 i.e. £4,000 for a typical family of four which, if it has only one breadwinner, has to live on an average of about £17,000 a year after tax.

How can this conceivably be worth it? What are the colossal benefits which could justify the enormous cost even in normal times, let alone in the worst recession for a very long time?

Remarkably the answer is that we get nothing we could not get by normal agreements and cooperation with the other members or with the EU itself. Ask a Europhile what the advantages are. You will get general waffle as an answer. Insist on specifics.

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