Shropshire's MEP calls for return of corporal punishment in schools
UKIP MEP for Shropshire Bill Etheridge wants to bring back corporal punishment in schools, limit higher education to the best 20 per cent of students and reduce the availability of IVF and non urgent surgery on the NHS, according to his book.
Black Country Revolutionary: A Political Scrapbook, sets out the West Midlands MEP's ideas for Britain.
The book, which is believed to have sold around 2,000 copies, is out of print but Labour has seized upon the ideas and condemned them, saying they would result in wealthy, privately educated young people getting taxpayer funded degrees and would stop thousands of patients receiving treatment on the NHS.
Mr Etheridge is standing in the General Election in Dudley North against Labour MP Ian Austin and opinion polls have suggested he may either win or come second.
The 124-page book was published in 2012 after Mr Etheridge had left the Conservatives and joined UKIP following a row triggered by him posing with a gollywog doll to make a point about political correctness. Two years later he was elected a councillor in Sedgley and a West Midlands MEP as UKIP made a major breakthrough.
The book includes a 10-point 'vision for how our nation can be revitalised', top of which is withdrawal from the European Union. On education and corporal punishment he writes: "The state education system needs a serious rethink. Discipline of the highest standard is crucial and should be the number one priority; this should include the reintroduction of a limited degree of corporal punishment."
He adds: "Universities should only be available to the top 20 per cent of academic achievers. These elite, high achievers should have their education totally financed, including a grant."
On health he writes: "The NHS is in need of serious reform. Non-essential surgery, cosmetic work and fertility treatment should not be readily available."
