They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery ...

This leaflet has some London Tories confused. They thought it was a UKIP leaflet but it's actually been produced by Labour MP for Brent North, Barry Gardiner. He's probably hoping some of UKIP's success will rub off on him!

H/T: politics.co.uk

Patrick O'Flynn appointed UKIP Communications Director

With a certain inevitability, Patrick O'Flynn has taken over as UKIP's Director of Communications.

Inevitability isn't necessary a bad thing. Patrick is currently chief political reporter for the Express until he leaves that role in February to take up his post with UKIP. His appointment will fill the gap left by Gawain Towler who left his role as chief press officer a few months ago to move to another role in Brussels.

Energy: Green Really Is Crap

The late, great Times columnist Bernard Levin once stated that if you placed a man in a hall made up entirely of fake mirrors he will, quite certainly, go off his head.

Just so, and that is what it feels like to discuss energy policy. The whole thing is now so mad that it is intellectually very difficult to challenge - how do you apply even basic logic to an area of policy that has become demonstrably completely insane?

The recent revelation that wind turbine companies were actually paid to turn off their turbines during the recent Christmas storms, because the National Grid could not cope with the amount of electricity being produced, is just the latest chapter in a litany of despair. In itself, it shows the folly of relying too heavily on energy sources that by their nature are ultimately beyond human control: the wind blows, or it doesn't, and there is nothing much we can do about it. Even so, the difficulties of supply management may be acceptable if wind power was otherwise competitive, but of course it is not: as UKIP has shown, the very unpredictability of wind power means that gas turbine backup must always be available for spinning up - or down - depending on whether or not the wind decides to blow. As constantly spinning up backup gas turbine capacity means they run at sub-optimal efficiency, the whole wind package is grotesquely uneconomic.

Of course, all that is just to scratch the surface in the total madness of energy policy: a non-exhaustive list follows:

• Green surcharges have added huge amounts to household energy bills at a time of prolonged recession, greatly exacerbating fuel poverty, and forced much needed manufacturing capacity - and jobs -  abroad. 
• Price rises have been blamed by the public on profiteering by the big energy companies, significantly damaging the reputation of capitalism in the process. Meanwhile, subsidies for wind farms create huge profits for the small minority with landed estates, transferring resources from the poor to the rich!
• Almost unbelievably, Britain faces supply shortages as perfectly good coal-fired stations are closed to meet emission targets. Our energy supply problems are now so desperate that we have recently signed an outrageous deal with EDF to build a new nuclear power station with a "strike" (i.e. floor) price for the electricity produced by the plant that was roughly twice the price of electricity at the time the deal was announced. 
• Thanks to the current obsession with "green crap", Britain has been slow to exploit the potential of fracking to lower energy bills and to power an industrial renaissance.
• The EU has shelved plans to look into Thorium reactors, even though the fuel is both green and much safer than Uranium. This fact has, of course, nothing at all to do with France's heavy investment in Uranium fuel technology.
• Tony Blair, always keen to ingratiate himself with people who in future may give him a nice job or three, allowed state-controlled foreign energy companies to takeover British suppliers, thereby ultimately handing political control of energy production to the French and German governments.

So why has energy policy descended into what can only be described as the policies of the madhouse?

You know the answer already. Such policies could only be dreamed up by an effete and unworldly Political Class, most of whom would never dream of getting their hands dirty in industry and prefer cosy deals with large corporations and interest groups to courage or genuine enterprise.  As long as the get to feel sanctimonious, show off their green credentials  and masturbate their egos, they don't really care if what remains of our industry closes, capitalism is brought into long-term disrepute  and the little people shiver. In the process, of course, many of them also make a very nice living out of it.

Meanwhile, in the relatively sane outside world, Norway proceeds with it's "Thor" thorium reactor trials, and the Chinese are looking to do the same.

To whom do you think the future belongs?

Mirror poll shows overwhelming support for UKIP

The Mirror reports on Lord Ashcroft's polling that shows the Tories have lost 37% of their support and that half of that support has gone to UKIP.

Shockingly for a Labour-supporting newspaper, the online poll following the article is showing massive support for UKIP suggesting that Labour voters are turning to UKIP in greater numbers than previously thought.

Russian warship comes within 30 miles of Scotland

A Russian warship has come within 30 miles of the Scottish coast, stopping just outside British territorial waters just before Christmas prompting the Royal Navy to send the only available warship left on a 24 hour journey from Portsmouth to intercept it.

Picture: Miliblog

There has been much speculation on what Russia's motives might be but it's almost certainly an escalation of the EU's attempts to extend its borders east into Russia's sphere of influence with the attempts to switch Ukraine's allegiance from Russia to the EU. The EU sees Ukraine as the jewel in the crown of the former Soviet states in eastern Europe and with most of the Russian gas imported into Europe via Ukraine, it is of great strategic importance. Expansion into eastern Europe and Ukraine's vast wealth of natural resources is so important to the EU's empire builders that they're prepared to start a Second Cold War over it.

The Ukrainian president says that Ukraine's interests lie with Russia but its government wants to get its hands on EU money (or more accurately, our money). There have been continuous protests in Kiev organised by the europhile lobby and supported by the EU to try and overthrow the president and start on the disastrous path to EU membership.

The fact that there was only one operational warship available for the whole UK is a bit concerning but of course we can rely on the French loaning us that aircraft carrier if the Russians invade ...

Lords warn EU referendum bill unlikely to become law

The House of Lords has warned David Cameron that the bill for an EU referendum in 2017 if the Tories win the next election so Labour can't repeal it might not become law before the end of this Parliament.

The House of Lords Constitution Committee said that their rules "may make it unlikely that the bill would finish the Lords in time for any amendments passed by the Lords to be considered by the Commons on Friday 28 February 2014" which has led David Cameron to threaten to use the Parliament Act to overrule the Lords and pass it anyway.

As has been explained many times by many people, any law requiring an EU referendum in the next parliament is utterly worthless. No Parliament can bind its successor so the law requiring a referendum in 2017 can and will be repealed by a Labour government in 2015. Even if by some miracle Labour don't get a majority at the next elections and the Tories managed to cobble together a government then all we have to prevent it being repealed anyway is a promise by David Cameron and we all know how worthless a Cast Iron Guarantee™ is.

There is only one way that we will leave the EU and that is by voting UKIP.

Happy New Year

2013 has been the most successful year of the party's history. We've increased our membership threefold and had our best ever set of election results. Here's to an even more successful 2014 and an historic victory in the EU elections.

Romanians and Bulgarians already heading for the UK

The Daily Fail is reporting that all flights and buses from Romania and Bulgaria to the UK are fully booked for weeks with one airline charging £3k for a one-way ticket.

In just a few hours, immigration controls will be lifted for Romanian and Bulgarians and hundreds of thousands of the poorest people in the EU are expected to come to the UK.  Those claiming to be self employed will be entitled to benefits from the day they arrive whilst access to the health and education services are available to all from day one.

That eastern Europeans have an excellent work ethic isn't really in dispute- the problem is that there aren't enough jobs to go around the people who already live here without flooding the job market with low paid immigrant labour, no matter how skilled or hard working they are.

The line taken by the left is that working immigrants pay tax and contribute positively to the economy but they conveniently ignore the fact that every newly arrived immigrant that finds work is depriving someone who already lives here of a job so unless that newly-arrived immigrant is earning enough to pay the cost of the services the state provides them as well as the cost of providing services and benefits to an unemployed person they are costing the taxpayer money.

The minimum wage in Romania and Bulgaria is £135 and £115 respectively; in the UK it's over £990. It's not hard to see why the UK is so attractive to people who want to work and with one of the easiest and most generous social security systems it's obvious why the UK is so attractive to people who don't.

The empty promises David Cameron made to bring in last minute restrictions on Romanians and Bulgarians to protect the economy came to nothing as expected - another worthless Cast Iron Guarantee™. The promises to charge immigrants for using the NHS and make them wait before they can claim benefits are similarly worthless when the EU is already taking the UK to court for breaching EU laws requiring immigrants from other EU member states to have the same access to benefits as people already living here.

The simple fact is, we can't do anything to tackle the imminent influx of Romanian and Bulgarian immigrants or the detrimental impact they will have on jobs, services and the economy whilst we remain members of the EU and only UKIP will take us out.

Second ice breaker stuck in antarctic ice

There has been another setback in the rescue mission for the stranded ship carrying climate scientists and journalists researching melting ice in the Antarctic after one of the rescue ships has become stuck in the ice itself.

The Akademik Shokalskiy has been stuck in thick ice for a week and a number of rescue attempts have failed with ice breakers unable to clear a path. The latest plan was to effect a rescue by air using the Aurora Australis and Xue Long but the Xue Long has itself become stuck in the ice.

As if a ship full of climate change propaganda merchants getting stuck in the ice they were supposed to be telling us was disappearing wasn't ironic enough.

Farage calls for UK to take in Syrian refugees

Nigel Farage has called for the UK to take in some refugees from the civil war in Syria.

According to the BBC there are an estimated 9m Syrian refugees and there has been agreement to house only 12,000 of them in various countries.  The Labour Party says it wants to accept between 400 and 500 refugees, the Tories and Lib Dems want to accept none and throw hundreds of millions of taxpayers' money at the problem instead.

Farage's comments have attracted both criticism and support from members and supporters. Most of the criticism seems to stem from a misunderstanding of what a refugee is. Refugees are not economic migrants looking for a better life in another country, nor are they people fleeing persecution wanting to settle in another country. Refugees are people forced to leave their homes because their lives are at risk who are expected to go home when it is safe to do so.

Some people have questioned the practicality or sense in accepting Syrian refugees when we are already short of houses, jobs and money and a popular suggestion is that they are sent to Saudi Arabia or another of Syria's Arab neighbours.

Refugees - like asylum seekers - can't work so they won't be taking jobs off people. I would expect them to go to a refugee camp and remain there for the duration of their stay (and by refugee camp I mean something like a disused industrial estate, not a tent city in some fields). They wouldn't be taking houses or jobs off people already living here because they would be living in the refugee camp and they wouldn't be working.

The British government has already pledged £525m in aid for Syria and has promised to give more to help the UN raise £4bn for Syrian refugees so there is clearly money available to help them. Rather than give that money to the UN or an aid charity that will eat up a big chunk of it in administration costs and wages, let's bring some refugees over here and give them what they need ourselves.

Sending Syrian refugees to neighbouring countries risks spreading the conflict to the wider Middle East and increases the risk of vulnerable people being radicalised.

Of course, it's highly likely that some of the refugees would claim asylum when the time came to go home but that's no more likely than would happen if they weren't already here as refugees. Being a refugee doesn't make you any more likely to be a successful asylum seeker - in fact it probably makes you less likely to be successful because your refugee status ends when your host nation's government deems your home country to be safe.

Nigel Farage has put UKIP's humanitarian credentials on the table for all to see today. While the LibLabCon want to throw money at the problem and at best allow a token handful of refugees to seek safety here, UKIP is saying that we should honour our moral and legal obligations to provide temporary safe refuge to people whose lives are in danger in their own country. Some UKIP members and supporters will be unhappy with this announcement but such is life. We are a broad church in UKIP and if you can't tolerate the party having policies you disagree with then you're going to be sadly disappointed wherever you make your political home.

It's going to be 2014 and we still have FPTP

In 2013 we have witnessed spectacular technological breakthroughs as a planet, with artificial intelligence with greater intelligence, smart watches, the XBox One, and the Japanese have even  managed to teleport a particle from point A to point B; but back at home manage to cling onto exceeding ancient realms. One of those is the voting system for general elections - the First Past The Post.

Frankly, how can anyone wake up in the morning with such a disastrously unrepresentative voting system? It's a serious issue that has to be dealt with, especially in a epoch when Britain is entering a crampy interval of five party politics, including Ukip and the LibLabConSNP - which will soon be four with the bump off of the Liberal Democrats. And ultimately we are in very colourful interval in British politics with LabCon only achieving 67% of the vote in 2010, the SNP has an overall majority in Scotland, Ukip's successes in various European and local elections and the different range of political parties dominating Northern Ireland.

I've never found sense in pointing out the flaws of FPTP to MPs because, simply, they know the flaws only too well. You want a scandal? There's a massive one right under our noses crippling any opposition to the two main parties, establishing 'safe seats' where party bosses can cherry pick their whipped candidates and the apparent victories of candidates with an, often extreme, minority of their constituents' vote - 66.6% to be precise. 

The AV referendum was a very cunning distraction to an exceedingly serious debate but few are ever going to be at peace until we have a proportional system that has MPs representing constituents. A lead campaign tactic seemed to be the fortunes of extremist parties under reform. It was not understood that in the eyes of democracy there is no such thing as a political party which must be excluded from the political process; and besides, it was unlikely to see any extremes under AV. 

FPTP's golden monkey has always been that it continually assembles strong, stable government, however that has no longer been the case  and that case seems more and more inane as both failed old parties lose voters to others, particularly Ukip. There is the Single Transferable Vote which is relatively proportional AND provides strong, stable government, like is seen in Northern Ireland and New Zealand. All that will solve this democratic deficit is a grassroots movement thoughout the country, because this set of MPs have absolutely nothing to offer which would make real change.

Let's enter 2014 with our eyes open.

Private Eye on Cameron's illegal EU immigration crackdown

Ian Hislop might be an annoying little tit but Private Eye is on the ball over Cameron's sham immigration crackdown. All the restrictions he says he's going to bring in for EU immigrants before the end of the year are illegal under EU law.

Labour and Lib Dem councillors defect to UKIP

A Labour councillor in Barking & Dagenham and a Lib Dem councillor in Worthing have defected to UKIP this week.

Cllr Dee Hunt has been a Labour Party member for 25 years and a Labour councillor for 12 years. She has also been mayor of Barking & Dagenham. Cllr Hunt will join Cllr Robert Douglas - who defected from Labour to UKIP in September - to form a UKIP group on Barking & Dagenham Council.

Cllr Trevor England has been a Lib Dem councillor on Worthing Borough Council since 2010 and joins Cllr Charles James who was leader of Worthing Conservatives until he defected to UKIP in July. Cllr England cited UKIP's policy of not whipping its elected representatives as the deal clincher.

Daily Mail in second attack on Victoria Ayling

The Daily Mail launched another attack on Cllr Victoria Ayling at the weekend in a desperate attempt to recover from the embarrassment of being comprehensively dressed down by readers on their own website the previous week.

Last week's smear was based around a heavily edited video from several years ago given to them by Cllr Ayling's bitter ex-husband in which she said that she would like to send all illegal immigrants home. Despite being classic Daily Mail rhetoric, they tried to portray this as a racist outburst with the result that the comments section on the website was flooded with comments agreeing with her and criticising the Daily Mail for attacking her.

The latest attack on her is a claim that she was a member of the National Front in the past - again this has come from her ex-husband and this time her mother has joined in, making "the painful decision to speak about the past for the sake of the family" and saying that she doesn't think her daughter should be a politician.

Cllr Ayling says that she attended National Front meetings as a student as part of her research for her thesis for a politics degree. Her ex-husband says this is a cover story, her mother says she doesn't remember it being about a degree and one of her friends who is such a good friend he helped the Daily Mail carry out a second attack on her a week after the last one says that she was a member and took him along with her.

The Daily Mail has once again referred to her as a "trusted ally" of Nigel Farage and refer to "public outrage at her comments" despite there being no such public outrage at her, just at the Daily Mail for its attack on Cllr Ayling.

Cllr Ayling says that this is just the latest in a "bitter vendetta" against her by her mother and it certainly seems that way.  She says that her ex-husband took to cross-dressing and forced her to go out with him while he was dressed as a woman and cheated on her with other women.  She says that he refused to leave the family home when their marriage broke down and threatened to go public with details of their divorce which she wanted to avoid for the sake of their son.

The Daily Mail's obsession with Cllr Ayling, their misleading comments, their reckless disregard for the welfare of her son and providing a platform for what is evidently a campaign of vindictiveness and revenge by her mother and ex-husband is irresponsible and unprofessional.

Survation polling shows UKIP the only competition in 3 more constituencies

The latest constituency polling by Survation on behalf of Alan Bown will make grim reading for the Tories who are going to have to rethink their strategy of telling people that voting UKIP lets Labour win after another three constituencies are shown to be a two horse race between UKIP and Labour.

UKIP donor Alan Bown has commissioned Survation to conduct polling in some marginal constituencies and the results are clear: only UKIP can beat Labour or Conservative in 5 of the 7 constituencies polled so far.

In the South Thanet constituency UKIP is polling in second place and most UKIP voters wouldn't vote Conservative even if there was no UKIP candidate. In Great Grimsby UKIP is polling in second place and 70% of people who said they'd vote UKIP didn't vote Tory last time.  In Dudley North constituency UKIP is polling in third place.

The latest four constituencies carry on that theme.

In Folkestone & Hythe constituency UKIP is polling second behind the Conservatives in what was a safe seat in the last general election with a 19% Tory lead over the Lib Dems who are now polling in fourth place on just 10%. The Conservatives are still polling in first place with 35% of the vote but UKIP is closing the gap with 28%, followed by Labour on 21%.

In Bognor Regis & Littlehampton constituency UKIP is again polling second behind the Conservatives in what was an even safer seat than Folkestone at the last general election. Here the majority of 27% the Tories enjoyed in 2010 has been slashed to 10% with UKIP well clear of Labour. The Tories are polling 37%, UKIP are polling 27%, Labour are polling just 20% and the Lib Dems are again languishing in fourth place on a measly 10%.

Great Yarmouth is probably the most interesting result. The UKIP vote has gone from 5% in 2010 to 30% which is enough to move to second place. The Tories currently hold Great Yarmouth but Labour are now polling in first place with 37%, UKIP is second with 30%, Conservatives are third with 28% and the Lib Dems an irrelevant fourth with just 4%. The results show that UKIP is attracting almost as many Labour voters as Tories in Great Yarmouth.

Finally, in Crewe & Nantwich the UKIP vote is lower than in the other three constituencies polled at 11% (compared to 3% in 2010) but these are fairly evenly spread across traditional Tory and Labour voters. The weak UKIP vote means Labour are predicted to hold Crewe & Nantwich (the scene of one of the most hypocritical negative election campaigns Labour has ever run in 2010) with 46% of the vote, the Tories are second on 33%, UKIP are third on 11% and the Lib Dems are fourth on 6%.

Most people who intend to vote UKIP said they would vote UKIP even if it meant Ed Miliband becoming Prime Minister (another one of the ridiculous non-arguments the Tories have been peddling as a reason to vote for them) and most people said they wouldn't vote at all if there was no UKIP candidate. This shows quite clearly that there is a UKIP vote that is tribally UKIP and not a loaned vote from one of the other parties. This is another milestone in the maturity of the party and demonstrates UKIP's successful transition from a single issue protest a decade ago to the third party in UK politics and a credible party of government.