Bloom's Bloomers

UKIP MEP Godfrey Bloom was yesterday at the centre of controversy following his  comments in the European Parliament in Strasbourg.  Mr Bloom a blunt talking Yorkshire academic and businessman was appointed to the European Parliament's Women's Rights Committee.
 
Mr Bloom's comments to the committee were  that ''No businessman with a brain would employ a lady of child-baring age'' has been widely  reported all day in the news media.
 
The goodness  is  the negative effect of EU orientated employment law  has on the nations small businesses  hit the head lines. The effect that recent employment law has on the growth of business is often forgotten.
 
The mass of 'social' legislation which is so very keenly 'goldplated' by our civil servants and accepted without very much debate ( if any) in Parliament  by our politicians is a real barrier to the growth of smaller businesses. What Mr Bloom did bring to the fore is the fact that  recent employment law has had the effect, in practice, of reducing employment opportunities  for many young women. Few employers would openly admit to this since to do so, as Labour MEP Mary Honeyball  reminded Mr Bloom,  would be blatant discrimination.
 
The Federation of Small Businesses offers its 185,000 members legal advice and representation, over 70 of the  legal help that the FSB gives to its members is on the complex issue of employment law. The  volume of legislation is impossible to keep up todate with and the fear of the consequences of falling foul of the law is a major barrier to the growth of the smaller business.
 
However, the bad news is,  Mr Blooms other and more colourful and chauvinistic  comments yesterday would have clearly upset a number of British lady subjects. ''I want to deal with women's issues because they just don't think they clean behind the fridge enough''. Later  he added  '' I am representing Yorkshire women who always have dinner on the table.'' Godfrey Bloom who is a keen supporter of the Blower Hat would perhaps be well advised to seek a political advisor and soon.
 
When interviewed today on BBC Radio Scotland I was asked whether Mr Blooms comments were UKIP policy. I was delighted to point out that Mr Bloom was expressing his views in his characteristic way which has revitalised the debate on how EU legislation is both inflexible and counter productive.
 
Politics is about ideas, controversy and image. UKIP will now be keen   to develop the first, encourage the second and improve the third.
 
Finally as one  business woman commented to me today, '' men's brains are often located in the wrong place''.
 
What could she mean ?
 
The Editor was the lead candidate for the UKIP in Scotland during the EU Parliament elections in June.