Well, we didn't see this coming. UKIP has finally something we agree with: tampon tax has got to go. The party has promised that, if elected, it will ditch the five per cent VAT affecting sanitary care products. But there's a catch. As with every other Ukippolicy going, it entails leaving the EU.
UKIP head of policy Suzanne Evans blamed the tampon tax on political patriarchy and the EU, describing the levy as "outdated and outrageous".
"This shows not only how ridiculous EU legislation is, but how very wrong it is that we've given our tax sovereignty over to a bunch of faceless, and mostly, male EU commissioners," she told the BBC. "Only by leaving the EU can this change, and only Ukip wants this to happen." Currently, tampons are taxed at five per cent.
Evans is right about one thing: tampon tax is ridiculous and EU legislation does get in the way of change. But we can't help that nagging feeling that this is a blatant move to curry favour with female voters. A poll conducted in November showed that only 18.7 per cent of women would vote for the controversial party, compared to 29.4 per cent of men.
While EU laws make it difficult to ditch the tampon tax, it's not impossible. Campaigner Laura Coryton, whose campaign we featured last month, wrote this five-step guide on how we can beat the tax. It's actually pretty simple stuff – we just need the chancellor and parliament on board. But David Cameron dodged a question on it in February and George Osborne omitted it from his budget entirely, so don't hold your breath.
So Ukip, we'll give you this one for actually talking about the issue. Then again, at one point the party wanted to scrap paid maternity leave and regulations against sexual harassment, so they're not exactly a friend to the sisterhood. Guess we'll get back to cleaning behind the fridge then.
