York City Labour lose two more councillors

Two more Labour councillors on York City Council have resigned from the party on Thursday, making Labour's grip on the city even more tenuous.

In September, Cllr Helen Douglas defected from Labour to the Conservatives and lost the Labour group their majority. Cllrs Ken King and David Scott have now both resigned over the local Labour leadership and attempts to punish them for voting to cut councillors' expenses. There are now 21 Labour councillors on York City Council out of a total of 47.

Looking outside the box.

UKIP 1 Establishment 0.
While the Tories and Labour make silly excuses and Limps try and spin their lack of results as a labour and Tory problem, UKIP should be jubilant in the results we have garnered over the last few weeks in the polls and elections. And rightly so.

Now is the time for us all to pull together, I know some think we are taking a new direction, but as the party of the people we are going in their direction and it is working.
We have to have faith in the leadership and back them even if we do not agree with their decisions at the time because it seems their decisions are working for the greater good of the party.

We need to go with the flow on the good ship UKIP and see where it takes us.

We can not get our main goals of EU withdrawal and equality within our own country, some say our vision is inward but to me it is not, looking inward is concentrating on the Eu whereas we could look outward to the world for trade partnerships and the betterment of all and not just a secular section of the world called Europe. We need to concentrate on spelling out to the masses the flaws and inconsistencies of Europe.

We now have to pull together and fight as one Unit. The peoples army.

On QT last night some of the snipes at UKIP were from an uneducated view, we will not change that view hostility, we have to show why we think it is wrong and why our vision will benefit the UK and beyond.

They talked of a 30 billion hole in the NHS by 2020, well the logical and simple solution would be get our country back and stop a 10 billion a year pay out in membership fees, plus all the quangos to do with the dictacts from Brussels.

The HS2 vanity project being scrapped would save 80 billion plus.

Global trading would bring in millions and we can only have that by going it alone, without the EU shackles.

We need to be less insular and look outward, our new trade deal with China = unnecessary tariff expenditure due to our EU membership, the commonwealth can not be traded with because of our EU membership. Growth is stifled by our bailing out of declining economies in the Eurozone.

One idiot stated about Education within Europe, We are the only country, apart from Scotland, that has to pay, the EU students get grants to get education in the UK, so we fund it via taxes and fees.

They call us insular, well they are the insular ones, the world is bigger than Europe.

I just wish people could see that instead of the doctrine views spewed out by the small insular minded LIBLABCON brainwashing that they all hang on.

So lets fight as one, it is not about right and left. IT IS ABOUT RIGHT AND WRONG.

UKIP - The Great Realignment Of British Politics Finally Begins

It is difficult to know what to celebrate the most - Douglas Carswell's fantastic victory in Clacton or John Bickly's very close second in Heywood and Middleton.

What is now absolutely clear is that the great realignment of British politics, so long prophesised, is finally underway. 

Some quick points:

• UKIP is rapidly becoming the party of the indigenous working class, displacing working class Toryism in the south of England and challenging Labour supremacy in the north.
• Both Conservative and Labour are retreating deeper and deeper into their regional heartlands and can no longer really be called national parties. Labour's vote evaporated in Clacton, as did the Tories in Heywood and Middleton. 
• UKIP is now surely the only serious challenger to Labour in it's post-industrial heartlands.
• The Labour vote is now realigning in tune with the modern party's middle class leadership and Metropolitan obsessions. Labour has sucked up a very large proportion of the previous LibDem voting middle classes at the same time as losing large amounts of working class supporters to UKIP.
• Despite our advances deep into Labour territory, thanks to the huge public sector vested interests and the dependency culture deliberately created by Gordon Brown, the Labour vote remains very strong in their core areas and will be difficult to break down. After all, after the Rotherham revelations a party with Labour's track record should quite properly cease to exist, and yet it is still winning by-elections in the kind of places similar to those badly affected by such terrible scandals.
• The LibDems are destroyed as a national party, doomed to total humiliation except where they have strong local incumbency factors in their favour. They will lose hundreds of deposits at the next general election. However they may well still hold the balance of power afterwards because of their still strong localised concentrations in support.
• Judging by the idiotic comments and spin from the LibLabCon parties after tonight's debacle, of which the victory address by Labour's Liz McInnes was the most ridiculous, the political class (a) continues to treat the voters with contempt by insulting their intelligence and (b) still doesn't know what has hit it!

Douglas Carswell is UKIP's first elected MP

Douglas Carswell has won the Clacton by-election for UKIP by a huge margin, increasing his majority and becoming UKIP's first elected MP.

John Bickley came unbelievably close to unseating Labour in the Heywood & Middleton by-election, falling short by just over 600 votes after a bundle check.

Carswell's victory for UKIP in Clacton represents a 44% swing from Conservative to UKIP and is the largest winning vote increase for any party in history whilst Bickley's close second in Heywood & Middleton will mortify Labour who almost lost the safe northern seat that they have held since it was created 21 years ago.

When I joined UKIP six years ago the party was very much the underdog, barely registering on opinion polls and tanking in elections. How things have changed. UKIP has replaced the Lib Dems as the number three party in the UK and is challenging both the Conservatives and Labour. The courage that Douglas Carswell and Mark Reckless have shown in defecting from the Conservatives and resigning their seats to get a fresh mandate for UKIP is a rare display of principals that hadn't been seen since Churchill crossed the floor twice when his party failed to represent his beliefs. But we must also recognise the role of Nigel Farage who has devoted his life to turning UKIP into a serious political force for good at great personal expense. There is no doubt in my mind that UKIP's success over the last couple of years, culminating in yesterday's historic first ever Westminster by-election win would not have happened were it not for Nigel Farage's leadership of the Peoples' Army that he has created.

Clacton

Candidate	Party	Vote	%
Douglas Carswell	UKIP	21,113	59.7%
Giles Watling	Conservative	8,709	24.6%
Tim Young	Labour	3,957	11.0%
Chris Southall	Green	688	1.7%
Andrew Graham	Lib Dem	483	1.3%
Bruce Sizer	Independent	205	0.6%
Alan "Howling Laud" Hope	Loony	127	0.4%
Charlotte Rose	Independent	56	0.2%

Heywood & Middleton

Candidate	Party	Vote	%
Liz McInnes	Labour	11,663	40.9%
John Bickley	UKIP	11,016	38.7%
Iain Gartside	Conservative	3,496	12.3%
Anthony Smith	Lib Dem	1,457	5.1%
Abi Jackson	Green	870	3.1%

UKIP councillor attacked by Labour supporters outside Heywood & Middleton polling station

The new UKIP Group Leader on Dudley MBC has reportedly been assaulted by a Labour supporter, believed to be a local councillor, in Heywood & Middleton.

Cllr Paul Brothwood was keeping an eye on a polling station and asked the occupants of a car covered with Labour posters not to park outside the polling station which is a criminal offence. He was then allegedly assaulted and had his phone snatched off him and smashed by a Labour supporter believed to be a local councillor. The police have been called in to investigate.

Can you identify the driver of this Labour campaign vehicle? The number plate is a little difficult to make out but looks to be NX04 UTY.

Picture: @SamuelLaunder

St Albans Conservative councillor charged with common assault

A Conservative councillor in St Albans is due in court later this month to answer a charge of common assault.

Cllr Salih Gaygusuz allegedly assaulted the 40 year old manager of St Albans Recycling Centre after an altercation over whether he could dump his garden waste there. Central Herts Magistrates court adjourned a hearing yesterday until the 17th of October.

UKIP disability spokeswoman calls for Labour MEP to resign over slur

UKIP's disability spokeswoman, Cllr Star Etheridge, has called on Labour MEP Richard Howitt do resign for his "repulsive remarks" on Twitter.

Howitt posted the following deeply offensive and completely untrue slur on Twitter:

UKIP says abort disabled children, put people w/learning diffs in camps & bans disabled candidates.

UKIP has never said disabled children should be aborted, that people with learning difficulties should be put in camps or banned or otherwise discriminated against disabled people.

Star Etheridge suffers from Fibromyalgia, Lupus and PTSD and is in a wheelchair. She is a UKIP councillor on Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council and UKIP's national disability spokeswoman. UKIP's Deputy Leader, Paul Nuttall MEP, worked with autistic children before he was an MEP. Just here in Telford where I live and am a councillor we have a UKIP town councillor who works as a house parent in a special needs school, a UKIP parish councillor with one leg and one of my children is autistic.

If there was a shred of truth in what Richard Howitt says, how would we have disabled councillors, a disabled disability spokeswoman and why would anyone with personal experience of living and/or working with autistic and special needs children have anything to do with the party? Howitt is a nasty little troublemaker who should resign in shame at his disgusting slur against UKIP and its representatives.

If you would like to give Howitt your opinion on what he said then you can email him at richard@richardhowittmep.com or send him a tweet @richardhowitt.

Dirty tricks by Derby Labour

UKIP's Cllr Alan Graves proposed a motion to reduce the number of councillors on Derby City Council by a third, saving at least £250k a year that could be put back into vital public services. The ruling Labour administration didn't agree so they voted through an amendment to turn his motion into an attack on "government cuts" and take out the proposal to cut the number of councillors so the record wouldn't show them voting against saving money.

By law, amendments to a motion must be to improve or correct the motion without altering the meaning of it. Cllr Graves' motion made no reference to criticising "government cuts" and was clearly about cutting the number of councillors so the meaning of the motion was altered. Cllr Graves pointed this out so the council's legal officer, already prepared for the objection, stepped in and said "the amendment does take away slightly the point regarding cuts to councillor numbers" but it's still about "government cuts" so it's legal.

Watch the whole outrageous exchange on video below ...

Philip Davies MP doesn't want UKIP to stand against him

Self-proclaimed eurosceptic Conservative MP, Philip Davies, has told the Telegraph that he hopes UKIP won't stand a candidate against him because he agrees with the party on almost everything.

The MP for Shipley is going to be very disappointed because UKIP will be contesting every seat in May. As a UKIP spokesman told Breibart "The only candidates we won't run against, Philip, are our own. As long as [Mr Davies] is supporting the Prime Minister, his words mean diddly squat".

If Davies agrees with UKIP "on nearly everything" then he must disagree with the Tories on nearly everything so why is he still supporting a party and Prime Minister who are ideologically at odds with pretty much everything he stands for?

There must be no deals for the general election. If an MP from any party believes in the same things as UKIP then they should be in UKIP, not propping up a regime that is at odds with everything we believe in. There is only one way to avoid UKIP depriving you of a seat and that's the stand for UKIP.

Convicted child beater addresses Lib Dem conference

The Lib Dem conference has been running for the last couple of days with literally hundreds of the party faithful turning up to the Conference Centre in Glasgow to hear people like convicted child beater and ambulance blocker Cllr Colin Rosensteil.

Rosensteil is a Lib Dem councillor in Cambridge and was convicted of hitting a 7 year old in the face in a shopping centre in front of a police officer just 3 months ago. Five years ago he was disciplined by the now-defunct Standards Board for England after blocking an ambulance as it tried to get to an injured man at a festival and then again as it tried to leave, only letting it out when a police officer ordered him to.

Hat-tip: Guido

Sefton Conservative councillor caught with porn on council laptop again

A Conservative councillor in Sefton has been caught with porn on his council laptop for the second time.

Cllr Peter Papworth took his laptop to a council contractor reporting that it was running slow and his browsing history showed that he was browsing porn on the laptop on a regular basis.

Cllr Papworth has been removed from all council committees and has had his council IT equipment removed until May next year.

Petition to sack Conservative leader of Surrey County Council

A petition to have Conservative Leader of Surrey County Council, Cllr David Hodges, removed from his post has gained more than 100 signatures and should now be debated in the council chamber.

The ruling Conservative group on the council awarded itself huge pay rises in May against the recommendations of the Independent Remuneration Panel, prompting the resignation of all three of its members. Cllr Hodge's allowances were increased with immediate effect from £27k to £43k.

The council subsequently backtracked on their 60% pay rises but local resident Gerald Harvard believes there is so much waste and corruption at the council that it's time for Cllr Hodges to go.

Conservative MP due in High Court over harassment claim

Conservative MP, Caroline Nokes, is due to appear in the High Court along with former lobbyist Adrian Yalland to answer a harassment and assault civil claim by Fathers4Justice founder Matt O'Connor.

Nokes is accused of aiding and abetting Yalland in harassing O'Connor and his wife, unlawful trespass, assault, breach of privacy, causing injury and stalking.

Are there any urchins shining shoes round here?

Reckless on 9% lead in Rochester & Strood

The Nasty Party's attacks on Mark Reckless that have forced him to move his family out of Rochester and on UKIP members in general look to have backfired on them.

A Survation poll for the Mail of Sunday puts UKIP on 40% in the Rochester & Strood constituency with the Tories 9 points behind on 31%. Labour are third on 25% and the Lib Dems set to lose their deposit with just 2% of the vote.

There are some interesting statistics in the polling that should worry both Labour and the Tories. Only 12% said they would be voting for Reckless because they like him, 70% said they were voting UKIP because they support UKIP's policies and 88% of those who are voting for UKIP said they will vote for UKIP in the general election next year.

Survation has been consistently close to the mark when predicting UKIP success so there will no doubt be a tentative sigh of relief in the Reckless household.

Two more Conservatives defect to UKIP

Two Conservative council candidates in Mark Reckless' constituency have defected to UKIP.

Cllr Paul Monck and Mark Joy have both joined UKIP today. Cllr Monck is a parish councillor on Cuxton Parish Council and Mark Joy was one of the new Conservative candidates selected just a few months ago.