The UK Independence Party's latest scheme is to try and convince us that the great British public hasn't been consulted on our membership of the EU for thirty years — because the last referendum was in 1975.

This is peculiarly twisted logic. According to UKIP's reasoning, we have also never been consulted on the NHS, education, housing, taxes, the environment or anything else.

But of course this is complete rubbish. We live in a parliamentary democracy, and we have a general election every four or five years. If we don't like a government's policies, we can kick the government out of office and replace it with a better alternative. If that's not consultation, I don't know what is!

As every general election since 1975 has produced a pro-European government, maybe UKIP should take the hint?