Liberal Democrat MEP for the East Midlands Bill Newton Dunn has launched a scathing attack on UKIP's sexist and patronising approach to women, following comments made by UKIP MEP Paul Nuttall over Nick Clegg's proposals to update the system of parental leave.

Nuttall, UKIP's Deputy Leader, claimed that "new mums can hardly breast-feed - as everyone knows is best - if they've gone back to work after a fortnight leaving dad in charge."

Currently fathers have less right to parental leave than mothers but under Clegg's proposals, both parents would have the right to choose whether to share parental leave.

Bill Newton Dunn commented:

"Nick Clegg's proposals will let women and men decide for themselves how to divide up parental leave. Individual parents know what is best for their own situation and so we shouldn't deny them the right to choose.

"Nuttall's attitudes are straight out of the Victorian era. Perhaps that's no surprise, as his comments on breast-feeding show he doesn't know anything about 20^th century inventions such as the breast pump or the fridge.

"Since Godfrey Bloom quit as a UKIP MEP there seems to have been a vacancy for blatant sexism at the top of the party. Clearly Paul Nuttall is filling it with glee."