Ukip is considering scrapping VAT on sanitary towels and tampons, briefing notes for Nigel Farage show, in what appears to be an attempt to woo female voters.
The paper was photographed on the back seat of a car that took the Ukip leader to the ITV studios to film an interview with Loose Women. Under the heading of health, the note said: “Remove 5% VAT from sanitary products.”
It was written in between policies that have already been announced about more NHS staff, extra funding for dementia and specialist mental health care.
Currently, sanitary products are deemed as non-essential and David Cameron has said it would be quite difficult to remove VAT under European laws.
However, if Ukip managed its desired EU exit, it could scrap the charge, which campaigners say is a £3-£5 a year tax on being a woman.
Farage did not talk about the possible policy on Loose Women and Ukip was not immediately able to clarify the party’s stance.
During the chat, the Ukip leader appeared to be well received by his audience, despite saying the interview was like going into the “lion’s den” and begging the presenters to have mercy on him.
He was filmed sipping a coffee and holding a cigarette in the studio garden before coming inside for a grilling about the party’s immigration policies, his drinking, family life, health and why he has been called the most hated man in Britain.
Near the end, he told the viewers it was a fact of life that mothers returning to work can earn less than men in some jobs.
“If you’re a doctor, a lawyer, a researcher, you’re a woman, you have a baby, you take six months or a year off. You are not disadvantaged at all in that job. But there are other jobs in which, if you take six months off and come back, you find yourself behind the rest of the pack and earning less money. That is a fact of life. It’s difficult to change that,” he said.
The shadow business minister, Stella Creasy, objected to the comment, tweeting: “Sorry- @Nigel_Farage said what?! Just a fact of life is it women earn less after kids? No it’s an injustice and we can change it.” However, Farage was not pressed on the issue by the presenting panel.
Ukip’s Janice Atkinson, an MEP and parliamentary candidate, also waded into the debate about working mums on Thursday evening, rubbishing calls by Labour’s Hazel Blears for the intelligence agencies to use Mumnset to boost female recruitment.
“What do we want from our security services – James Bond or Mary Poppins?” she asked. “Working for MI5 or MI6 isn’t a usual career but that hasn’t stopped Hazel Blears from subjecting the security services to the usual Hampstead dinner party diversity wish list.
“In tough times, MI5 and MI6 exist to keep British streets free from terrorist atrocities, not to tick boxes to please Labour’s metropolitan ideologues. Besides, there are just some things that come more naturally to men and to women. Even James Bond has yet to be recorded changing a nappy at 3am on a work night.
“Perhaps Ms Bond 007 will be attracted by the idea of the Aston Martin, the Chanel bag to house the magnum, the private jet and helicopter. If you want to attract women into the security services, then please afford us the dignity and brains to find our own way there, not via Mumsnet, while having a glass of Pinot Grigio.’’
