EURO election fever is sweeping Inverclyde — aye, that’ll be right!

Elections to the European Parliament are due on 22 May, and Inverclyde is certainly not alone in being less than enthusiastic — Brussels, after all, is a long way from Branchton.

The European Union’s complicated set-up, remoteness from ordinary people and lack of communication with them is to blame for Europe-wide apathy.

Euro MPs vanish into a void between the five-yearly polls, so how can they expect people to be interested when they suddenly re-appear and ask for votes?

Direct elections have been held to the Parliament since 1979, when I remember asking voters what they thought about it.

One woman told me frankly: “I wouldn’t have bothered voting if I hadn’t been going to the butcher.” Things have worsened since then, with turnout falling at each election.

At least an attempt has been made to increase interest this time by staging debates between the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP), who want to leave the EU, and the pro-European Liberal Democrats.

UKIP may not do that well in British elections, but the Euro poll is a different case entirely.

They could receive significant protest backing from people who may not want to actually exit the EU, but like the way UKIP speaks out loudly about European issues the main parties may shy away from.

The EU is far from perfect... but we should still use our votes next month.