UKIP's call for withdrawal its membership of the European Union was given a welcome boost today by none other than Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

UKIP Leader Nigel Farage said: "Speaking to the CBI, Brown emphasised the importance of two key points of UKIP policy: That Europe can't do without the UK as a trade partner and the need to look outside the EU, to China and India, for new trade partnerships.

"Both of these are not only vital to understand for Britain to achieve economic growth, but they also underline why our membership of the EU is totally unnecessary.

"He expanded on the idea of encouraging thousands of Chinese firms to base their businesses in the UK and British companies in China and talked of strategic partnerships with India and the USA. Great!

"But what do these three massive players in world trade have in common? They're not members of the EU! And neither should Britain be.

"Much as I appreciate Gordon's help with spreading the UKIP word, I couldn't disagree with him more when he says Britain should be at the heart of Europe.

"We all see what happened when he last tried to do anything about that. His old pal Tony Blair was given the cold shoulder, Peter Mandelson sent a chill through Brussels, David Milliband quickly retreated and we ended up with political pygmy Cathy Ashton supposedly looking after our best interests.

"The UK could do a much better job at working towards economic recovery on its own. Let's just leave the EU now."