As usual, there will be a wailing and gnashing of teeth at the low turnout in the European elections. At just under 43 per cent of the electorate across the European Union, numbers were down for the seventh time in succession.

For a sunny Sunday in June, when 19 of the 27 EU member states voted, it was not bad – a marginal drop from the 45.5 per cent in 2004. There is no consistent pattern, with figures ranging from 66 per cent in Italy, where most voters think the European parliament matters more than the Italian chamber of deputies, to under 20 per cent in Slovakia, which won the wooden spoon for the second time in terms of participation.