IT'S all very well the UK office of the European Parliament trying to raise the profile of next year's elections but people must be made more aware of how their vote will count.

The European Parliament is responsible for extremely important legislation but just exactly what difference does the party system make?

Recent legislation going through in Brussels and Strasbourg affects such things as child seat belt regulations, bathing water standards, compensation for air travellers, genetically modified food labelling, working hours for doctors and herbal medicine.

These subjects, and the many others being dealt with in Europe, are matters of grave import, but what difference does the party system make to the outcome of the legislation?

In the European Parliament, British Tories sit with the largest political grouping, Labour members sit in the second largest grouping - the Party of European Socialists - and Liberal Democrats sit with the European, Liberal, Democrat and Reform group.

People in Britain really don't know how much European legislation can be affected by the size of each political group from member countries.

In Britain people vote for the party which reflects their own economic, political and social outlook. Future legislation will be guided by the principles espoused by the governing party. But in Europe, will the children's seat belt law be amended according to the ideological aspirations of the various political groupings and if so, by how much?

The proverbial man on the Clapham Omnibus, or in our case, the driver bouncing along the road in Burley Woodhead, needs to know exactly what difference putting his 'X' will make. Otherwise he might as well stay at home on polling day and let Brussels carry on as before.