Cllr Tim Aker MEP pays for free bus service in Thurrock

UKIP's Cllr Tim Aker MEP has put on a free bus service through a foundation he launched last year.

The Aker Foundation has given bursaries to college students and is now paying for a free wheelchair-accessible bus service from Aveley and Upminster.

Aker is using his councillor allowances to fund the foundation and the bus service is delivering on one of his election pledges.

If you live in Thurrock and believe you have a good cause worthy of funding you can apply to the Aker Foundation through his website.

Labour hold Thurrock West & South Stifford safe seat

Labour have held on to their safe West Thurrock & South Stifford seat in a by-election yesterday.

The by-election was called after Terry Brookes was charged with possession of child porn. He was only elected in October last year.

Party	Votes	%
Labour	629	43%
UKIP	450	31%
Conservative	384	26%

Thurrock Labour councillor arrested for possession of child porn

A Labour councillor in Thurrock has been arrested for alleged possession of child porn.

Terry Brookes was suspended by the local Labour Party who refused to explain the reason. BBC Essex reporter, Simon Dedman, broke the news this afternoon that Essex Police had arrested Brookes on suspicion of possessing indecent pictures of children a month ago.

Thurrock UKIP vote against Tory mayor so Tory MP accuses group of racism

The leader of the UKIP group in Thurrock has spoken out against accusations by the town's Conservative MP that their decision to reject the Conservative mayoral candidate was racist.

On hearing that that UKIP councillors had backed the Labour candidate Cathy Kent, Jackie Doyle-Price MP tweeted:

Take the view that anyone who has served as deputy mayor should become Mayor whatever party. Bad luck to Tunde #everydayracism

Cllr Graham Snell, the leader of UKIP 13 councillors in Thurrock, has dismissed the lazy accusation of racism and explained that the Conservatives were informed on a number of occasions prior to nominating Cllr Tunde Ojetola that UKIP would not back him due to his repeated hostility toward the party. Rather than select a new candidate, knowing that Cllr Ojetola would fail to be selected, the Conservatives kept telling Cllr Snell that they hadn't selected a candidate and eventually stopped answering his emails.

There was nothing racist about the decision to back Labour's mayoral candidate and it appears that Cllr Ojetola is the victim of a pathetic attempt to give the Conservatives an excuse to call UKIP racist.

Volunteers Needed in Thurrock

Call to arms.

Thursday we desperately need as many volunteers as we can muster to man polling stations on behalf of Tim Aker.

There are many key areas needing activists and all deservedly so.

Thurrock has a really good chance of being won for UKIP. The Team need to be out knocking doors and reminding pledges they desperately need to vote for a Better Britain.

So if anyone you know or if you have any free time on Thursday can you please come and lend a much-needed hand.

Meeting place is at the White Hart Inn, Kings Walk, Grays RM17 6HR.

Come and join the fight.

UKIP winning in Thurrock and South Thanet, rogue poll in Rochester & Strood

Two separate polls have put UKIP ahead in Thurrock and South Thanet.

A Lord Ashcroft poll predicts a victory for Tim Aker who, if he wins, will have become a councillor, MEP and then an MP in just 12 months.

Party	Poll %
UKIP	35%
Labour	30%
Conservative	28%

A Survation poll predicts a whopping 7% majority for Nigel Farage in South Thanet. The poll also found that a third of residents in the constituency have talked to a UKIP activist on the doorstep and 1 in 5 have spoken to Nigel Farage.

Party	Poll %
UKIP	39%
Conservative	32%
Labour	26%

Meanwhile, the Daily Mail are claiming that a secret opinion poll commissioned by UKIP shows Mark Reckless losing his seat to the Tories but the party says it hasn't commissioned such a poll. Reckless tweeted:

Why does @LordAshcroft assume that "don't knows" who voted for me in 2010 as Conservative and in 2014 as UKIP will now vote for my opponent?
— Mark Reckless (@MarkReckless) April 25, 2015

Tim Aker MEP wins Thurrock Council by-election

UKIP MEP for the east of England, Tim Aker, has won a by-election for the Aveley & Uplands ward of Thurrock Council which became vacant after the sad death of UKIP councillor Maggie O'Keefe.

Despite the Conservative Party putting out leaflets calling Tim, who was born in England, by his Turkish name Timür in a direct appeal to BNP voters he still out-polled the Tory by over 12% and secured almost twice the Labour vote.

Candidate	Party	Votes	%
Tim Aker	UKIP	747	41%
Teresa Webster	Conservative	520	28.5%
John O'Regan	Labour	338	18.6%
Eddie Stringer	Independent	217	11.9%

Thurrock Labour campaigning before deceased councillor's funeral

UKIP Thurrock have criticised Thurrock Labour Party for campaigning for their candidate to replace the recently-deceased Labour councillor, Andy Smith, before his funeral has even been held.

Thurrock Labour have been delivering newspapers eulogising Cllr Smith and attacking UKIP whilst the man they hope to replace him and their PPC for the general election have been attending surgeries held by Labour councillors to promote themselves.

Tim Aker MEP said that UKIP made the decision not to start campaigning for the by-election until after Cllr Smith's funeral out of respect for his family and friends and described Labour's political campaigning as "shocking and completely inappropriate".

The fact that Labour are already putting out leaflets that promote their new candidate and attack UKIP is in my view, shocking and completely inappropriate.

We all know that Labour's Polly Billington is scared stiff of UKIP’s rise in Thurrock. But this really is a brand of desperate politics that represents the lowest of the low.

UKIP will not be campaigning in West Thurrock and South Stifford until after Andy Smith's funeral.

Thurrock Labour and Tories plotted coalition before elections

The Conservatives and Labour Party in Thurrock held secret talks weeks before the election to discuss a coalition to try and freeze UKIP out of their cosy club.

UKIP won 6 seats on Thurrock Council last week and the Conservatives lost control of the council. It appears that both Labour and the Conservatives expected to get a good kicking at the ballot box and hatched a plan to frustrate voters and keep power in their hands.

After last year's local elections, UKIP groups set about dismantling the cabinet system that has been undermining accountability in local government for years and bringing about a return to the committee system that ensures all councillors have a part to play in how the council is run, not just a minority of the councillors from the party that got the largest minority of votes. It seems that a lust for power and the lucrative allowances cabinet members reward themselves with have helped Labour and the Conservatives to find common ground after opposing each other for decades.

Thurrock Tory says Vote UKIP!

Thurrock's Tories are revolting ... and I mean that in the nicest possible way!

As recently as last month, Councillor Stuart St Clair-Haslam defected to UKIP from the Conservatives after a year of sitting in an Independent Conservatives group set up with another three Conservative councillors on Little Thurrock Council.

Now another Conservative councillor in Thurrock, John Cowell, has put up UKIP posters in his shop windows and told people to vote for the UKIP candidate, Tim Aker.  Councillor Cowell is not seeking re-election this year but is considering returning to politics under the UKIP banner, which is great news.

The Conservative Party have told Your Thurrock that Councillor Cowell has left the party which makes it 5 councillors the Tories have lost in Thurrock.

Another Tory defects to UKIP

Thurrock Councillor, Stuart St Clair-Haslam, has defected from the Conservative & _Λ^European Unionist Party and joined UKIP.

Three Tory councillors in Little Thurrock left the Conservative Group on Thurrock Council (but not the party) last year amid concerns about proposed housing developments on green belt land and formed the Concerned Conservatives group.

Councillor St Clair-Haslam's defection to UKIP was announced at conference today.