Last weekend saw a massive mobilization of UKIP supporters for the Stoke Central by-election, with over 200 members turning up on Saturday and another 70 on Sunday to support our party leader and candidate, Paul Nuttall.
I spent two days on the doorsteps with Freddy, Jim and Patricia as a four man canvassing team, talking with local residents and receiving a tremendous reception – I was even greeted with a big sloppy kiss on one occasion, albeit from a very friendly fox terrier!
The Labour campaign team had been around one street before us and what I found left me absolutely incredulous.
Playing the ‘English Card’
Left in the road was a Labour leaflet carrying the image of their candidate, Gareth Snell.
To my immense surprise, the Cross of St George was prominent at the top of the leaflet – did anybody run this past Lady Nugee, Emily Thornberry MP, who openly sneered at the sight of an English flag during a previous election campaign in Essex?
Indeed, I find the whole idea of Labour putting the flag of our country on their leaflets quite ridiculous in view of their disdain for our national identity as shown in their policy.
Let me explain……
Labour’s Plan for England and the English
Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell wrote on his website a few weeks ago about their plan for a ‘radical, federal UK’. in which he proposed the idea of breaking England up in to regions with their own assemblies. I highlighted this at the time as being exactly the plan that the EU had for us in order to divide the country and break down our bonds of community and national identity. I revisited the site this morning and he has changed the posting to seem less harsh, but the undercurrent is still there (Link below)
The idea of regional assemblies for England has been floated by Labour before, with the policy put to the test in a vote in 2004 and rejected emphatically by the people of the North East.(78% voted against)
Whilst I agree that there needs to be a solution to the lopsided devolution of the UK enacted by the Labour government under Blair, the obvious answer is to give England as a whole its own assembly or Parliament with the same powers as the Scottish Parliament and Welsh/NI assemblies – a policy that is very much endorsed by Paul Nuttall and one which would solve the ‘West Lothian Question’ once and for all.
.Labour’s hare brained scheme would see English ‘regions’ pitched against one another in a scramble for resources and a voice and as such is both divisive and dangerous.
‘England has never had a voice’ – Corbyn
During his initial campaign to become Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn ran a series of public meetings. One of these was attended by my friend Eddie Bone, a major activist for the Campaign for an English Parliament (CEP).
During the debate, Eddie asked Mr Corbyn why there is a Scottish Labour Party and a Welsh Labour Party but no English Labour Party – Corbyn’s dismissive reply was that ‘there is no need for one’.
When approached after the event, Eddie was stunned by the further reply that Corbyn gave to his question –
Eddie: I just have a question to be answered
Jeremy: There are English regions which have regional labour parties, as does Scotland and Wales and there is the Labour party the membership decide
Eddie: So you’re happy to see them broken up into regions
Jeremy: There has never been a collective voice for England
You can see the video here –
Jeremy Corbyn effectively believes that England, a thousand year old nation going back to King Athelstan, has never had it’s own government talking as a voice for its people.
Furthermore, he also restates the Labour plan for ‘English regions’.
Feigning patriotism for political gain
It is obvious that UKIP has Labour rattled in Stoke. With historic military links, the people are proud of our country as can be seen by the number of English flags on display that I observed on the rounds at the weekend.
Labour have shown disdain for our country and our traditions with their plan to break England down in to regions but feel the need to bring out our flag on their leaflets to try and cover up for their shortcomings, especially when confronted by political rivals who promote an inclusive and proud vision for our future.
Added to the well documented support of both Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell for the IRA when they were blowing up English civilians on our streets in the 80’s , their deployment of the Cross of St George can be seen for what it is – a cynical, base ruse to try and trick the electorate in to believing that their party and candidate share the patriotism that can be seen on display across the constituency.
The true voice for England is currently wearing the purple rosette of UKIP – worth remembering when the polling booths open on 23rd February.
Above – Jeremy Corbyn and Ken Livingstone with Gerry Adams at Westminster during the height of ‘The Troubles’ – Corbyn invited IRA terrorists to the House of Commons just weeks after they attempted to blow up the Government in the Brighton bombing.
Unknown is an author at Bloggers4UKIP.
Posts
