IT has spread like a pandemic, hitting countries across Europe. But so far, Britain remains relatively untouched.

No, not swine flu. Election fever.

In under four weeks time, voters across Britain will go to the polls, to decide who will represent them in the European Parliament for the next five years – but if you hadn’t realised, it’s little surprise.

Us Brits are generally pretty unenthused when it comes to European politics, interested in rogue and often untrue tales about straight bananas and preserving the pint, but little else.

When these elections were held in 1999, only 24 per cent of the UK even bothered taking part, and in Yorkshire and the Humber that figure was 19.7 per cent – fewer than one-in-five of those entitled to vote.

Postal voting boosted it to about two-in-five in 2004, but the UK lags behind most other countries. In Italy, 71 per cent voted last time out, and in Belgium – home to the Parliament itself – the figure was 91 per cent.

It’s unfortunate for our MEPs that the first question, therefore, has to be: “Why should we care?”

Labour’s Richard Corbett – who has also written books on the Parliament’s structure – has clearly been here before and has a ready answer.

“It does matter,” he stresses. “Not for things people get most worked up about, such as health and education; social security and housing – that’s all scarcely touched by the European Union (EU).

“But if you are interested in the future of the planet and climate change, it’s here that 80 per cent of environmental laws are thrashed out.

“Or consumer protection – like not being ripped off by mobile phone companies abroad. Or knowing about the E-numbers on your jam jars – it’s at European level that you get into all this.”

Employment law, fair trade and competition are also all under the European Parliament’s remit, he says. That’s why people should care.

Mr Corbett says he gets exasperated when people propose exclusion from Europe, just because they don’t like a decision made at Brussels.

“If you do not like something the British Government does, you do not say ‘Yorkshire should leave the UK’. You try to change it. Likewise in Europe.”

Conservative MEP Edward McMillan-Scott has been in the Parliament since 1984 and agrees that the Parliament is important, not just on the mainland continent but on our doorstep.

“We have the most polluted part of Europe in Yorkshire – the junction of the M62 and M1, with very heavy carbon dioxide concentrations.”

Policies set in Brussels will regulate that, he says.

Diana Wallis, Liberal Democrat MEP and a vice-president of the Parliament, agrees and says it is important that people vote in order to strengthen democracy.

“The line I always take is that the European Parliament is politics as normal and it’s about taking decisions that affect our lives. You may not like what we do anymore than you do your local parish council or city council or Westminster, but please participate in it.”

But surely when people go to the polls on June 4, they won’t be weighing up the parties’ stances on environmental issues, or consumer protection?

No. The MEPs almost universally agree that the poll will be a litmus test on the viability of Gordon Brown’s premiership at Westminster.

The Liberal Democrats virtually admitted as much at their manifesto launch last week, and Tory Timothy Kirkhope says it is “inevitable” that people will assess Gordon Brown when they vote.

But he too says above all, people should vote – whichever party it is for.

Poll list system

The party-list system used in European Parliament elections means voters have less direct link with their MEP. It also means small parties, such as the UK Independence Party (UKIP) or British National Party (BNP) have a greater chance of success.

In the European poll, voters choose a party, rather than a named candidate, and each party draws up a list of people it wants to elect. The seats in each region are then allocated to the parties according to the strength of their vote. So if a party gets a sixth of the votes, they will get one of the six seats in Yorkshire and the Humber. If they get a third, they will get two seats.

The system means each MEP represents every voter in Yorkshire and the Humber but Timothy Kirkhope, leader of the Conservatives in Brussels, wants that changed.

“I am representing five million people and you cannot represent them personally compared to, say, the 62,000 I had in my old Parliamentary seat of North East Leeds.

“But there are certain benefits too. You get an overview. I can analyse the effects of economic policies on people across Yorkshire, be it Hull, York, Leeds, Bradford or Halifax.”

Election facts

•The UK will elect 72 MEPs on June 4, including six for Yorkshire and the Humber

•Voting takes place in the EU’s 27 member states from June 4 to June 7. Results will be counted and announced in all countries on Sunday, June 7

•More than 375 million people across the continent will be able to vote

•Yorkshire and the Humber currently has two Labour MEPs (Linda McAvan and Richard Corbett); two Conservative ones (Edward McMillan Scott and Timothy Kirkhope); one Lib Dem (Diana Wallis) and one UKIP (Godfrey Bloom)

•Gavin Aitchison visited the European Parliament from February 16 to 18. The trip was arranged and paid for by the Parliament’s UK office. His train ticket from York to London was paid for by Grand Central.