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		Love Europe. Hate the EU! Monday, 1st August 2005 East Midlands Conservative MEP, Roger Helmer has come up with a new and snappy way of getting his message across to his East Midlands constituents. He has decided to create a bumper sticker that perfectly summarises his political euro-sceptic views in five short words. In a comment today, Mr Helmer said: “I had the idea of printing the bumper sticker and thought for a long time about how to condense my political philosophy on the EU down to bumper sticker length. I can easily write a 1000-word essay on why the EU is bad for Britain – indeed I have done. At a pinch, I can get it down to 200 words. But a bumper-sticker? The best I could do was 'Love Europe. Hate the EU!'” However, deciding what to put on the sticker was not the only problem Helmer faced. He planned to use his parliamentary "information funding" to finance the sticker, and at first, his proposal was rejected by the Parliamentary authorities on the grounds that “it was not political, nor was it information; it was merely the Member’s sentiment”. Undeterred, Mr Helmer questioned whether the authorities would have rejected the phrasing “Love Europe, Love the EU” and told them that if they could think of a better slogan reflecting his political views, he would be happy to use it. At that, they gave approval, with Helmer commenting: “I was amused by the transparent effort of the parliamentary authorities to apply political censorship to members’ information funding. But I am glad that they finally saw sense”. The stickers have since been printed and are available by sending a First Class postage stamp to 11 Central Park, Lutterworth, Leics, LE17 4PN.