The Britain in Europe campaign group has described UK Independence Party MEPs as a "waste of space" in a controversial new report.

Publishing the pamphlet on Tuesday, Yorkshire Labour MEP Richard Corbett claimed the party was hiding a sinister agenda from its voters.

While he acknowledged that the June European election campaign led by former television presenter Robert Kilroy-Silk had been successful in increasing UKIP's representation in the Brussels parliament from three seats to 12, Corbett said the electorate was being kept in the dark.

In the document, entitled "25 things you didn't know when you voted for UKIP", Corbett claims the party has hidden extreme views behind a public stance of being tough on immigration and anti-EU.

"This is quite understandable. UKIP's leadership has always been careful to focus on their headline messages, keeping the more unsavoury aspects of their party out of the public eye," he said.

The pamphlet highlights UKIP MEP Godfrey Bloom saying that "no self-respecting small businessman with a brain in the right place would ever employ a lady of child-bearing age" and Kilroy-Silk's desire to "wreck" the European parliament.

But party spokesman Mark Croucher said Britain in Europe was ducking the challenge of debating real issues.

"It is interesting to note that nowhere in this pamphlet does Britain In Europe address any of the arguments about Britain in the EU - because there are no arguments for Britain in the EU," he said.

"That Britain In Europe are prepared to stoop to such depths just shows the extent of their desperation to deflect the issues away from substantive issues. If they were worth the bother, some of this might be actionable."