Burka ban? What burka ban?

The media have been falling over themselves to condemn UKIP's proposed burka ban. There's just one problem: it's not a burka ban.

The party revealed its integration policy a few days ago which called for a ban on covering your face in public, mandatory checks for FGM on at-risk girls, an end to Sharia courts, abolishing postal voting on demand and making the "honour" in honour killings and the race or religion of grooming gangs (if different to the victims) an aggravating factor.

The policy that has caused most controversy is the proposed ban on covering your face in public. Clearly the burka is one of the face coverings that would be affected by such a ban but so too would masks, scarves and bandannas that are a common sight at violent protests. The reason for the proposed ban is partly to promote integration and partly for security reasons. Only this week a burka-wearing terrorist suspect was shot by police during a raid. Face coverings are banned in Austria, Belgium, France, the Netherlands and in some parts of Denmark, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania and Spain. UKIP's policy would require everyone to ensure that their faces can be seen in public.

Female Genital Mutilation has been illegal in the UK since 1987 yet there has been just one attempted prosecution and that failed because the doctor in question hadn't actually performed the FGM. In France girls who are at risk of FGM are checked by doctors to ensure they haven't been mutilated. The zero tolerance approach in France has seen more than 100 people go to prison for mutilating girls and a small number of prosecutions have also been secured in the Netherlands, Italy and Denmark. UKIP's policy would not only introduce medical checks for at risk girls but it would place a legal obligation on all adults report FGM if they are aware of it and introduce a presumption of prosecution of parents, putting an end to the unacceptable blind eye the police turn to it.

Sharia courts and tribunals have no place in our legal system. They are discriminatory toward women and undermine the principle of us all being equal before the law. Despite many attempts by politicians and academics to portray Sharia courts as benign organisations advising the faithful on religious matters, they have remained stubbornly problematic and a government report is due to be published this year on the misuse of Sharia courts and their incompatibility with English law.

Postal voting on demand has caused a fraud epidemic that seriously undermines the democratic process and it nearly always involves Muslim communities and is usually for the benefit of the Labour Party. There have been numerous prosecutions for postal vote fraud, including the infamous Lutfur Rahman seeing his mayoralty of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets annulled by a special election court and his party banned. People involved in elections all over the country will have their own stories of blatant postal vote fraud yet the system remains open to abuse. UKIP's policy is to return to the previous system of only issuing postal votes to those who need them because they are unable to attend a polling station.

Between 2010 and 2014 there were 11,000 "honour crimes" reported to the police in the UK and an estimated 12-15 "honour killings" every year. Yet when prosecutions are pursued the fact that it has been done in the name of religion has no bearing on the punishment. Sexual grooming of young girls is an increasing problem and again, one that most commonly involves Muslim communities but disproportionately targets young white girls as their victims. UKIP's policy would require the courts to treat the racial and/or religious aspect of these crimes as an aggravating factor and increase the punishments accordingly.

Back in 2011 an army recruitment video was broadcast on TV showing an irate man facing up to a soldier. He calms down when the soldier removes his sunglasses because "army officers worldwide have learnt that eye contact is crucial in gaining trust".

Allowing the facial covering policy to be wrongly portrayed as a ban on the burka was clumsy and unhelpful. People should be free to wear what they choose but it is sometimes necessary to curtail such liberties when the risk of domestic and international terrorism is so high. Whether there should even be such a thing as an "integration policy" rather than rolling these rather sensible policies into more conventional policy areas like communities and local government or justice and home affairs is debatable. It certainly doesn't need to be a flagship policy in a snap general election when there is next to no time to correct the mistruths and deliberate misrepresentations before polling day. But despite all that, they are (on the whole) sensible policies designed to make the country safer and to promote community cohesion.

Paul Nuttall will stand in Boston & Skegness

Paul Nuttall has announced that he will be contesting the staunchly eurosceptic seat of Boston & Skegness in the upcoming general election.

Boston & Skegness returned the highest Brexit vote in the referendum with 75.6% of voters voting to leave the EU. In theory this is a perfect seat for UKIP to contest with most voters backing the party's stance on the EU, a Remain-supporting MP and UKIP's 10 councillors forming the official opposition on Boston Borough Council. But the two parliamentary by-elections that followed the referendum have shown that a Leave vote doesn't equal a UKIP vote and whilst a strong presence on local councils clearly translates into more votes in parliamentary elections it isn't enough. It will be an uphill battle for Paul Nuttall despite UKIP's relatively strong presence in the constituency.

Video: UKIP's general election campaign launch

Five arrested on terrorism charges in London and Kent

Police arrested a man on terrorism charges yesterday in Whitehall, a couple of hundred yards from the House of Commons.

The man was known to the police and was stopped and searched as part of an ongoing operation. He was found to have a rucksack full of knives. He was arrested for possession of an offensive weapon and commission, preparation and instigation of acts of terrorism.

Meanwhile, a woman has been shot by police during an anti-terrorism raid elsewhere in London. Three people - a man, a woman and a 16 year old male - were arrested on suspicion of preparing to to carry out a terrorist act and another woman was arrested in Kent as part of the same operation. Police say these raids were unrelated to the arrest in Whitehall.

The police have yet to confirm that the suspects are all mentally ill.

Paul Nuttall will stand in general election but where?

Paul Nuttall has ended several days of media speculation and confirmed that he will be standing in the impending general election.

Nuttall told journalists on Monday that he hadn't decided whether to stand or not which led many to believe that the disappointing result in Stoke in February had put him off trying to become an MP. However, he has confirmed that he will be standing but has not yet revealed which seat he will contest.

Boston & Skegness seems to be the popular choice with the pundits and with UKIP's former PPC for the seat, Robin Hunter-Clarke, opting to stand in Pontypridd this time round (he's Chief of Staff to the UKIP group in the Welsh Assembly) there would appear to be a vacancy in a seat that produced a very strong UKIP vote in 2015. However, Paul Nuttall is due in Hartlepool on Saturday morning where the unveiling of UKIP's candidate for the seat has been promised. Could Nuttall be the mystery PPC?

Reasons to vote Labour #1: Jeremy Corbyn supports the IRA, describing terrorists as "freedom fighters"

Reasons to vote Conservative #5: More than 30 Tory MPs are under investigation by 14 police forces for expenses fraud

Reasons to vote Conservative #4: Philip Hammond plans to break their manifesto pledge not to raise taxes

UKIP calls for compulsory checks of girls at risk of FGM

UKIP's women and equality spokesman, Margot Parker, has called for compulsory checks of girls at risk of Female Genital Mutilation at school and following foreign holidays.

The new policy unveiled today is similar to a French initiative which has resulted in a large number of prosecutions for mutilating young girls. It would also be illegal not to report FGM if discovered and there would be a presumption of prosecution for the parents of mutilated girls.

The police has unsurprisingly attracted criticism from the left who have denounced it as racist and a breach of human rights. These are the same people, of course, who had no problem with Diane Abbot, Keith Vaz and a number of other MPs calling for compulsory checks of girls at risk of FGM in 2014.

Despite being a criminal offence since 1985, there has been just one prosecution for FGM and that was on a tenuous charge of redoing childhood FGM when stitching up a mother who had given birth. Unsurprisingly, the doctor involved was acquitted as he was merely putting everything back the way he found it.

Reasons to vote Conservative #3: Theresa May refuses to commit to keeping the triple lock on pensions

Macron will face Le Pen in the French presidential election final round

Marine Le Pen has finished second in the first round of voting in the French presidential election and will go through to the second and final round of voting on 7th May to fight head to head with Emmanuel Macron.

With 96% of the votes counted Macron leads with 23.91% of the vote with Le Pen in second place with 21.42% of the vote. François Fillon is in third place with 19.94% of the vote and far left candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon in fourth place with 19.54%.

Opinion polling suggested that it might be a run-off between Le Pen and Mélenchon but the far left vote failed to hold up.

Macron's lead has widened as the last results have been trickling in but it will come down to the wire in the main event next month. Le Pen is likely to pick up a big chunk of Mélechon's eurosceptic and working class vote whilst Macron can expect to hoover up Fillon's conservative vote. The odds are stacked against Le Pen but even if she loses on 7th May today's result will send shockwaves through the pro-EU, pro-mass immigration political class in France and across the EU.

Reasons to vote Conservative #2: 51,000 disabled people lose their mobility cars after being forced off DLA and onto PIP

Reasons to vote Conservative #1: £12bn foreign aid budget "will remain" while more than a million Brits rely on food banks

ISIS claims responsibility for Paris terrorist attack, arrest warrant issued for second suspect

ISIS have claimed responsibility for tonight's terrorist attack in Paris and have named the gunman as Abu Yusuf al-Begjiki (Abu Yusuf the Belgian).

An arrest warrant has been issued for a second suspect, named as Youssouf el Osri. He has also been living in Belgium.

Police officer shot dead in Paris

A police officer has been shot dead at the Champs Elysees in Paris.

The gunman was known to French security services and anti-terrorist police are leading the investigation.

A police statement said that one of the gunmen was shot dead at the scene although this could just be clumsy wording. The attacker's car and home are being searched.

French presidential candidate, Marine Le Pen, has expressed "emotion and solidarity" for the security forces.

Émotion et solidarité pour nos forces de l'ordre, à nouveau prises pour cible. MLP

— Marine Le Pen (@MLP_officiel) April 20, 2017

Theresa May will allow alleged election fraud MPs to stand again

Veteran Labour MP, Dennis Skinner, asks Theresa May if she will give assurances that the current Tory MPs who are being considered for prosecution for expenses fraud from the 2015 election will not be allowed to stand in June. She said she stands behind them all.

Voting UKIP is the only way to ensure Brexit happens

Theresa May has secured a vote for a general election and the country will go to the polls on 8th June.

The Tories will be hoping to capitalise on an unprecedented 24% lead over Labour in the opinion polls and wipe out any opposition in the House of Commons. Conservatives and even some UKIP activists are flooding social media with calls to vote Conservative to deliver Brexit, echoing Theresa May's misleading comments yesterday. But this is not the way to get what we want.

Theresa May has a working majority in the House of Commons but she has a problem - the majority of her MPs are pro-EU. Thus far she has managed to keep a lid on rebellions because Brexit is two years away and MPs will be hoping to spend those two years watering it down. As independence day gets closer and a so-called "hard" Brexit becomes more likely she will face more opposition from her own ranks and it could well be blocked by MPs. Bye bye legacy.

What Theresa May tells us is that she needs the country to return a big Conservative majority so she has a mandate to deliver Brexit. She already has a mandate from last year's referendum but let's just explore this idea a little further. Her problem is that most of her MPs don't support Brexit and that's because the Conservatives are a pro-EU party and the majority of their candidates at the last election were Remainers. Most MPs and PPCs will be contesting the same seats they did two years ago which virtually guarantees a Remain majority once again. She will increase her majority but in doing so she will load the dice even more in Remain's favour.

So if an increased majority is going to make delivering Brexit harder, why is she risking an election now when the result is actually not as certain as the opinion polls might suggest and when the two post-referendum parliamentary by-elections that have been held have shown that Brexit is largely irrelevant when it comes to who people vote for? Because an increased Conservative majority in June will give them 5 years unopposed to do whatever they want to the country. We'll be out of the EU in 2 years' time if everything pans out as it should and then it's three years to the next election during which time the Tories will have no effective opposition.

Only yesterday the papers were talking about a proposal to introduce special immigration rules so EU citizens won't face restrictions if they want to come and work in coffee shops. There are 1.6m unemployed already living here and Theresa May's government thinks we need to import baristas from eastern Europe. Theresa May's government is handing over £12bn a year in foreign aid while tens of thousands of people in this country get fed by food banks. Hundreds of thousands of disabled people are losing their independence thanks to changes Theresa May's government are making to disability benefits. This is what Theresa May wants you to vote for in June.

If the Tories are serious about delivering Brexit they have nothing to fear from UKIP MPs who will support legislation that will deliver Brexit. And if they're serious about Brexit they will, of course, stand aside for UKIP in the 120 seats that UKIP came second in in 2015 to maximise the number of Brexit-supporting MPs in June. But they won't.

The best outcome from this general election is for UKIP to hold the balance of power, supporting the Conservatives in delivering Brexit and holding them to account for the rest of their platform. Tactical voting doesn't work, it just helps someone you don't want to win. Voting UKIP is the only way to ensure a Brexit majority in the House of Commons and an effective opposition.

Theresa May calls Commons vote for June general election

Theresa May is calling a vote of the Commons tomorrow to try and call a general election for 8th June.

In a statement she said that Labour, the Lib Dems and SNP have all pledged to block Brexit legislation and so the country should go to the polls to pass judgement on their plans.

The prime minister is absolutely right to say that a strong mandate is needed for Brexit in a general election but that isn't going to come from voting Conservative. She needs to call an election because so many of her own MPs are opposed to Brexit. The Conservatives have a majority in the Commons but they are a pro-EU party and there is absolutely no majority when it comes to a real disengagement from the EU - the so-called "hard Brexit" - that we will inevitably come to when the EU waste much of the next two years playing games.

The only way to make sure Brexit happens is with UKIP MPs in Parliament. Theresa May is a Remainer and she is surrounded by Remainers in her cabinet and on the back benches. Let's not forget that it has taken nine months just to trigger Article 50 during which time various legal challenges have been allowed to take place. This is no coincidence, the delay was deliberately calculated to give the Remainers an opportunity to block Brexit.

But it's not all about Brexit, the Tories are getting so many other things wrong. They are starving the NHS of cash whereas UKIP has a costed plan to give the NHS a cash injection. Immigration is at record levels and the Tories want to keep the door open whereas UKIP has the only credible immigration policy for a points-based immigration system that will control the quantity and quality of immigrants. Disabled people are losing the financial support they need to maintain their independence and support them into work whereas UKIP pledges to end the bedroom tax, end work capability assessments and remove the quotas for getting disabled people into work. Under the Tories, unemployment is going down but exploitative zero hour contracts are on the increase with no protection for employees whereas UKIP would ban exclusivity clauses in zero hour contracts and give employees the right to a permanent contract with fixed hours after a year.

If Theresa May's election gets voted through we have a relatively short time to tell voters why UKIP is not only relevant but desperately needed to steer the country through Brexit and into the world.

Police detain "Islamist" with links to ISIS over Borussia Dortmund coach bomb

Police in Germany have detained a man they have described as an Islamist over the bombing of a Borussia Dortmund team coach yesterday.

Three copies of the same letter have been found claiming responsibility for the attack and linking it to ISIS. What's interesting is that the police have identified the suspect as an Islamist and the apparent link to ISIS. It may be that they're going to conclude that it was nothing to do with Islamic extremism and let that be a salutary lesson to us all on the dangers of making such assumptions.

The BBC is briefing against any links to Islamic extremism, suggesting that because this is unlike any previous attack it is unlikely to be related to ISIS. There has to be a first time for every type of attack and targeting multi-millionaire footballers amidst tight security sends a pretty strong message that nobody is safe - exactly the message ISIS want to put out.

Hello angry losers

Not sure who Pat Condell is but this is spot on ...

UKIP - Job done or only just started?

With the resignation of both Douglas Carswell and Mark Reckless, many in the media are now saying that UKIP has achieved its goal and it is no longer relevant on the political landscape.

Indeed, the aforementioned Mr Carswell has been gloating on his Twitter feed about a council byelection in his area where the Tories have taken a seat from UKIP , claiming that many Kippers think ‘job done’.

So, what is the reality? With the triggering of Article 50 and the initial founding reason for UKIP (Leaving the EU) looking like a reality, what have UKIP got left to offer?

BREXIT

Firstly, our withdrawal from the EU is not as cut and dried as it may seem. Never forget that two thirds of the MP’s at Westminster backed remain and that the Prime Minister has a very slim majority.

We are already seeing talk of a ‘soft’ or ‘hard’ BREXIT when the reality is that, in the words of our London MEP Gerard Batten, BREXIT means Exit.

This kind of pigeonholing, picked up by the mainstream media, is being used by the pro EU MP’s as a way of making the people feel that doing what was proposed during the Referendum (Withdrawal from the Single market, removing the authority of the European Court of Justice and putting in place a sensible migration policy) will be difficult and harm our country after we leave.

Indeed, in recent weeks we have seen significant backsliding by the Tories on a number of points – They are talking of ‘transitional’ periods where  open door migration will continue, the suggestion that our territorial fishing waters may be part of the ‘negotiation’ over trade and that the Prime Minister herself wants to continue with the iniquitous European Arrest Warrant (EAW) that has been almost useless in the fight against terrorism.

The EAW is an affront to our basic rights under English law and has resulted in serious miscarriages of justice in many cases – Google the likes of Andrew Symeou, Deborah Dark and Alexander Adamescu to see how Habeus Corpus, the presumption of innocence until proven guilty, is totally undermined by this draconian piece of legislation, originally implemented by Theresa May when she was Home Secretary.

It was UKIP pressure that brought us the referendum in the first place – with the LibDems pushing to overturn the referendum result and Labour totally divided and incoherent on the subject, only a strong UKIP electoral threat can ensure that BREXIT is a success and implemented in an acceptable way for the people of the UK.

Labour’s confusion can be seen on this short video from Nathan Gill MEP where they opposed UKIP amendments in the European Parliament to the EU BREXIT Resolution, including them opposing our ability to strike free trade agreements and protecting both EU and UK citizens rights during the negotiations

The UK political alternatives

UKIP are the only party since 1906 to have won a national election other than Labour and the Conservatives (The 2014 EU elections).

If we are no longer relevant and past our function, who will oppose those two parties on behalf of the people of England and the UK? The Liberal Democrats have already shown in their 5 year stint as coalition partners to the Tories that they will sacrifice principle for power (Tuition fees, a fudged referendum on electoral reform, etc) and their new clothes as ‘The Party of In’ is in direct opposition to the will of the people.

Labour are no longer a cohesive opposition – weak leadership, contradictory messages on policy, lack of a sensible economic policy that is run by a man who nearly bankrupted London in the 1980’s and their slavish adherence to the failed doctrine of multiculturalism will see them in the electoral wilderness for many years.

The Greens? They are even further to the ‘left’ of politics than Labour and dress up their Marxist policies in the veneer of caring for the planet – yet they support open door migration (Which damages the environment through overpopulation) and the one council that they have run in Brighton produced almost the worst recycling figures for any local authority in England in contradiction of their supposed aims.

UKIP have a full independently costed manifesto from 2015 that is neither to the left or right of British politics and reflects the concerns and priorities of the majority of the people of our country.

The Future post BREXIT

UKIP have always been a radical, campaigning party. We have taken policies that have resonated with the man in the street and put them in to the mainstream of the political debate, from the EU to migration to Grammar Schools. Our electoral threat has forced the government in to taking UKIP policies seriously, even incorporating some of them in to their programmes (Although they will talk about and pay lip service to them whereas we would implement those policies)

Whilst leaving the EU was the founding aim of UKIP, our transformation from single issue campaign group to fully fledged political party happened a number of years ago and has been reflected in a rise of support to the extent that nearly four million people voted for us in the last General Election (More than the SNP and Liberal Democrats combined)

Whilst there is no doubt that the last year has been difficult with two leadership elections and the loss of elected representatives and members who see our mission as complete, a rebrand and refocus on to our other policies is currently underway.

We have not fought to get away from the clutches of an undemocratic, unelected and aloof EU establishment only to put power in to the hands of a disconnected establishment at Westminster – our aim now is to make our country more democratic and increasingly to put power back in to the hands of the people at a local level.

With interference from Brussels removed, we will campaign to roll back the dead hand of the state on our everyday lives, championing the small and medium sized businesses that will drive the growth of our economy post BREXIT.

Unlike the government who had to do a dramatic U turn on their plans to increase tax on the self employed, we will be the party that empowers people to take control of their own lives and build the businesses of tomorrow in the outward looking, globally trading and independent country that we will become in the 21st Century.

Our plans to take people on the minimum wage out of taxation altogether will put money in to the pockets of those striving to better themselves and remove the need for the complex in work benefits system that rewards the big corporations with a cheap, subsidised workforce at the taxpayers expense.

Unlike the establishment political parties, UKIP are proud of our country and believe in our values and traditions. We will be the only party brave enough to speak out about political correctness and challenge the rise of the Radical Islamist ideology that threatens our community cohesion and way of life, championing an overarching British identity that binds us together as one community irrespective of race, religion or gender.

We will speak up for our armed forces and our veterans, giving them the respect and funding that they deserve. The other parties shy away from this as they feel there are not many votes in it – our support is based on what is the right thing to do, not on extra points at the ballot box.

UKIP will strive to mend our broken electoral system, championing electoral reform and finally giving England an equal voice within the Union. Our aim is to give the same level of representation that is enjoyed by Scotland through their Parliament and Wales & Northern Ireland via their assemblies, building a Union fit for the future built on partnership and mutual recognition.

At a local level, we will champion the voice of the ordinary man and woman, giving them the right to recall their MP if they are not satisfied with performance and legally binding referendums on matters of importance if enough people support it via petition.

We will continue to oppose vanity projects such as HS2 and the Heathrow Third Runway, putting the money saved in to improving our infrastructure overall and benefiting the many rather than corporate interests and a privileged few,

UKIP are the new political force in 21st Century Britain, a People’s Army driven by your wishes and aspirations rather than big corporations, public sector trade unions and unaccountable bureaucrats – join or support us as we look to a bright future for our country after we leave the clutches of the overbearing and obsolete European Union

Labour's Gorton by-election candidate's links to Islamists and antisemites

Labour's candidate for the Manchester Gorton by-election is a supporter of revolutionary Islam who compares Israel to the Nazis.

Afzal Khan MEP was selected from an all-Asian shortlist to replace the late Gerald Kaufman MP. He has been busy cleaning up his social media accounts but nothing is deleted forever from the internet.

Back in 2014 Khan tweeted that "The Israeli government are acting like Nazi's in Gaza". Whilst the Israeli government certainly has a lot to answer for over their continued illegal occupation of Palestine, there is some way to go before they can be legitimately compared to the genocidal, homicidal Nazis.

In 2015 Khan attended an event to celebrate 36 years since the Iranian revolution which turned a culturally liberal (albeit politically oppressive) kingdom into an ultra-conservative theocracy which places little value on human rights and freedoms. Men and women were segregated at the event, naturally.

Khan is the North West regional organiser for the Muslim Council of Britain, an Islamist group that campaigned to water down anti-terrorism laws, signed a declaration calling for opposition to "Zionism" by any means, funds Islamic literature for primary schools and is believed to have been involved in the Trojan Horse scandal which saw attempts by Islamists to take over and Islamise state schools.

Not only are Khan's morals pretty poor, his record as a politician is somewhat lacking too. Only four of his 72 written questions to the EU Parliament were about the UK, two of which were trying to undermine the British government and one was worrying about the impact of Brexit on the remaining EU member states. Out of 157 motions in the EU Parliament that he has put his name to, only two are related to the UK and those are both about the same British citizen jailed in Thailand for co-authoring a critical report on human rights in a Thai company. A worthy cause but 155 of the 157 motions he put his name to have nothing to do with the UK. He spends most of his time as an MEP talking about Africa, the Middle East and South America, what use would he be as Gorton's MP?

UKIP's candidate for the Gorton by-election is Phil Eckersley, a former quantity surveyor and now managing director of a care company specialising in caring for people suffering from dementia. Phil contested the Gorton seat at the last election where he finished in 4th place with 8.2% of the vote in an election that saw just 674 votes separate him from the 2nd placed Green. In that election, Gerald Kaufman increased his majority by 17% to take 67.1% of the vote but it was a victory for the immensely popular and well respected Gerald Kaufman, not the Labour Party. Afzal Khan with his Islamist links and anti-Israeli overtones won't command anywhere near the support his predecessor did. Overturning a 34k vote, 57.3% majority is a big ask but anything can happen in politics.

Stockholm terrorist is 39 year old Uzbek known to the police with links to ISIS

The suspect thought to be responsible for yesterday's terrorist attack on a busy street in Stockholm was a 39 year old Uzbek citizen known to police.

Bomb squad officers found a homemade explosive on the hijacked truck used to mow down pedestrians which had failed to detonate during the attack.

The father of 4 was already known to police but was not on their radar recently despite posting extremist material on social media. Investigators have also found ISIS-related material on his laptop and pictures of people injured in the Boston marathon bombing.

Politicians responsible for creating a society where criticising immigration or pointing out the increase in the crime rate with immigration is a criminal offence have been crying crocodile tears over the attack but will do nothing to stem the influx of illegal economic immigration and the violent extremists that are using it to extend their reach into Europe. One estimate based on private research to make up for the misleading and patchy statistics produced by the Swedish government estimates that economic immigration is costing the Swedish government as much as $18.6bn or 20% of its annual budget.

Lorry driven into pedestrians in Stockholm in latest terrorist attack to hit Europe

A hijacked lorry has been driven into pedestrians in Stockholm in the latest terrorist attack to hit Europe.

Sweden has been inundated with illegal immigrants from Africa, the Middle east and Asia. Swedish police have been gagged and the media self-censor to avoid suffering the same fate but in the internet age it's impossible to prevent stories about no-go areas in major cities controlled by immigrant gangs that even the police won't enter and the violent crime (including rape) that is becoming part of daily life in some parts of Sweden.

Today's attack is an escalation of the extremist behaviour of some of the illegal immigrants that have settled in Sweden. At least three people have been killed with many others injured. It appears that two terrorists hijacked a Swedish brewery truck and drove it into the corner of a department store before escaping on foot. There are unconfirmed reports that shots were fired and that the fire alarm in the store went off before the lorry hit it, hinting at a coordinated effort to cause the maximum number of casualties. One suspect was detained by police but they are searching for a man of Middle Eastern appearance wearing a green hoodie.

Mark Reckless should stand down and allow the next UKIP candidate to take his place

Mark Reckless AM has resigned from UKIP to sit in the Conservative group on the Welsh Assembly as an independent, saying that now Article 50 has been triggered the job is done.

This is the same excuse that Douglas Carswell gave for resigning from UKIP recently and it still doesn't hold water. Article 50 may have been triggered but this is only the beginning and UKIP is about so much more than getting us out of the EU.

Like Douglas Carswell, Mark Reckless is refusing to resign and call a by-election which they both insisted was the honourable thing to do when they defected to UKIP in the first place. The people of South Wales East voted for two UKIP AMs off the regional list, they didn't vote for Mark Reckless. The right thing for him to do is step down and allow the next person on the regional list to take his place.

Terrorist attack in St Petersburg kills 11

11 people have been killed in a terrorist attack on the metro system in St Petersburg, Russia.

Chechen rebels are suspected to be behind the bomb which exploded on a train between the Sadovaya and Sennaya Ploshchad stations with another found and disarmed near the nearby Ploschad' Vosstaniya station. Whether Chechens actually were behind the attack and whether or not they are linked to ISIS (as many Chechen separatists are) remains to be seen but Russian police have confirmed that it was a terrorist attack.

St Petersburg is Vladimir Putin's home town and he was in the city at the time of the attack.

If Spain wants to talk about Gibraltar, let's address the status of Cueta and Melilla

The EU have given Spain an effective veto over Gibrlatar's future as part of its Brexit negotiating manual.

The President of the EU Council (not to be confused with any of the other six EU presidents), Donald Tusk, has unveiled a document detailing how the EU will manage its negotiations with the UK. In that document it proposes that every decision relating to Gibraltar is put in front of Spain.

The EU has long supported Spain's illegitimate claim to Gibraltar which it ceded to the UK in the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht. Spain has been given extensive rights to set and police environmental policy for Gibraltar's waters and relentless breaches of agreements on border controls and illegal incursions by Spanish ships into Gibraltar's waters have been ignored by the EU. When Spain decided to hold up traffic at the Gibraltar-Spain border in 2014 in the height of summer on a whim the EU arranged an appointment for inspectors to go and see what was happening so the Spanish government could cease their operations before they arrived. Despite TV news footage being broadcast live around the world showing what was happening the EU refused to act.

Former cabinet minister Michael Howard suggested that Theresa May would be prepared to go to war with Spain over Gibraltar as Margaret Thatcher did with Argentina over the Falklands. But a more diplomatic solution could be pursued by addressing the status of the Spanish exclaves of Cueta and Melilla on the north coast of Africa in our negotiations on behalf of our old allies, Morocco. It's only fair, right?