The deranged fantasies of the English Democrats

The deranged terrorist appeasing, racist loving English Democrats deputy leader, Steve Uncles, has invented some more fantasies about UKIP.

First up on his new website (Wordpress closed his old one down after so many complaints about libel, impersonation and harassment) is the claim that UKIP have done a deal with the English Democrats in Kent not to stand against each other in target seats.  UKIP have done no deal with the English Democrats, nor do we need to.

The English Democrats have 4 councillors - two of which were defecting BNP councillors - whilst UKIP has hundreds.  The English Democrats have no MEPs whilst UKIP has 11.  UKIP is gaining councillors all the time, the English Democrats are losing them.  UKIP is on the brink of winning a Westminster by-election, the English Democrats got less votes than the Monster Raving Loony Party and the Elvis Loves Pets Party in the Eastleigh by-election.

The second deranged fantasy is that UKIP have decided not to stand in the Doncaster mayoral election to give the English Democrats a free run at trying to win back the seat after current mayor, Peter Davies, resigned from their party because of the BNP takeover and links with other extremists.

The press release is clear that the local membership decided not to put up a candidate against Peter Davies and risk losing the "critical check and balance against a Labour dominated council".  The English Democrats are barely a blip on the political radar, fatboy has serious delusions of adequacy.

In what alternate reality would UKIP feel the need to do a deal with such political non-entities as the English Democrats?

The local issues that matter

With the party campaigning harder than ever before to pick up council seats, the below post from the UKIP Hillingdon website shows how our local UKIP activists have engaged with the community and are making a positive difference to the area - As one UKIP councillor said to me before, it's about getting the bins emptied, the dog muck off the pavement and the holes in the roads filled!


With the increased profile of UKIP nationally, more people are contacting our branch in Hillingdon with issues that are either ignored or they don’t feel comfortable going to their local councillor’s with.
A case in point has been the state of the roads in parts of the south of the Borough, which led to our Brunel Ward representative Geoff Courtenay suggesting an action day for yesterday (Saturday 6th April).

Geoff has been discussing this with local residents for some time, and leafletted the worst of the roads affected during the week to advise everybody that we would be coming around at the weekend with a petition to the council to resurface Worcester Road and Maygoods Lane  (Including Maygoods Green).
With the affected area crossing over in to Uxbridge South, our neighbouring ward rep Jack Duffin also wanted to assist and our team assembled on the Cowley High Road at 10.30 am
Splitting in to two groups ,I volunteered to help Jack and we soon got a taste of why local residents are so concerned about this issue as we made our way down Worcester Road.
Stopping outside the Cowley St Laurence School, large cracks and potholes were soon apparent – Indeed, as can be seen from the picture below, the road on the zig zag lines outside the school entrance is in a very poor state and could be dangerous to children and adults on the way in.

Above – Uxbridge South ward representative Jack Duffin outside Cowley St Laurence School.
Later on during canvassing we spoke with a lady whose Autistic son had tripped on one of the potholes and hit his head further up the road at Maygoods Green – She had informed the council, they had sent somebody to put white marks around the hole to mark it for filling yet weeks later the work has still not been done.
The target for the petition so that it has to be looked at by the council is twenty signatures – Between Jack and myself we easily surpassed that within an hour and a half, with many answering the doors stating that they had seen the leaflet in the week and had been waiting for us to come around so both themselves and other resident family members could sign. When we met up with Geoff’s team later, they also told a similar tale.
The subject of road patching was brought up frequently, with residents advising us that teams would come out and just drop filler in to the holes without either compressing it down or using sealant around the edges to hold the patch in place – Such repairs generally only lasted a few months and we saw evidence of repairs from less than eight weeks previously that were already cracking apart, making the potholes worse than they were before.
Interestingly, we all found that it was not just the state of the road itself that was causing concern but several residents spoke of issues with the paving, especially near the care home. We were also advised of disabled parking bays being removed and not replaced, with one resident complaining that he could not use his bay as someone else was always parking in it due to lack of amenity.
It also became apparent  from the residents survey that Geoff was carrying out alongside the petition that many did not know either who their local councillors are  or how to contact them with their issues. Geoff used to be a councillor in Brunel Ward and was still recognised by a number of the residents as we went around, some of whom said that they had not had face to face councillor contact since his departure from the position.

Above – Geoff Courtenay in Maygoods Green showing how bad the potholes have become – These have been marked with white chalk for months without attention according to residents.

The branch will be carrying on with the petition for another week or two before presenting it to the council – Whilst there are enough signatures to get attention now, the more that are on the forms, the more weight the petition will carry and the better chance of the council listening to the wishes of the residents.

If you live in Worcester Road, Maygoods Lane or Maygoods Green and we have missed you ,please get in touch either via the website or by email ukiphillingdon@tiscali.co.uk if you would like to sign the petition.

Defection leaves Tories in minority

Another one fills a spot in the ranks of the only party that puts YOU the VOTER first.

Defection leaves Tories in minority 5:50pm Saturday 6th April 2013 in NewsBy Tim Ridgway

Conservatives have lost control of a town hall after one of their councillors defected to the UK Independence Party.

After days of speculation, Phil Howson, who is both a Lewes district and East Sussex county councillor for Peacehaven, has officially made the switch.

The announcement, a month before the local county elections in May, means the Tories running Lewes District Council will now have to operate as a minority administration.
However, council leader James Page said as far as he was concerned it was “business as usual”.

Coun Page said: “It does mean that we lose our working majority. But does that matter?

“Despite the politicking we work quite closely with our Liberal Democrat opponents.

He added: “My local experience is that people have gone to Ukip as they are disen- chanted with their own per- sonal effectiveness rather than philosophy.”

Local members of the Conservative party claim that Coun Howson defected as he was not reselected to stand as a county councillor for the election on May 2.

He will now stand for Ukip instead. But Coun Howson will not have to re-contest his Peacehaven and Telscombe seat on the district council until 2015.

Coun Page called on him to “do the honourable thing” by stepping down immediately and re-contesting the seat in a by-election.

Coun Howson said: “As a member of the Conservative Party all my life, this has been a big decision to change to Ukip.
“Like my other colleague I have lost faith with a party that constantly reneges on
promises made.”

Peacehaven Town councillor Ian Buchanan, who is a former town mayor, has also defected.

Coun Howson is the second Tory councillor on Lewes council to switch to the rightwing party in recent months.

It means there are now 20 Tories, 18 Lib Dems, two Ukip and one Independent. There are no Labour or Green councillors.

Ann De Vecchi, chairman of the local Liberal Democ- rats, said: “Even the Tories have lost faith in the Tories. “They are in meltdown, and cannot be looking for- ward to the local county council elections in May.”

Euro MP claims £100m of North-East aid lost in Scotland "bribe"

It seems that the pro EU Cabinet in Westminster are going to "bribe" Scotland to stay in the union.

They will be taking money from the North East of England, the money is from The European Union Funds that are designed for investment and creating jobs.

The Government once again aim to appease others at the cost of England.

Now, we can not blame the Scottish people, even though they get a better deal via the Barnett Formula and looks like they will be getting a bonus from this.

It is the fault of our Westminster failed Government. They do not recognise England as a country, they want to break us into regions, they lead us further into the mire of the EU, fail to give England and her people a voice with poor excuses and twisted argument.

There is a way to change this situation and get rid of the appeasing, wasting, lying and EU pandering incumbents.  VOTE UKIP!!!!!

Euro MP claims £100m of North-East aid lost in Scotland "bribe"

6:00am Saturday 30th March 2013 in NewsExclusive By Robert Merrick, Parliamentary Correspondent

UP to £100m of vital aid will be taken from the North-East as a Government “bribe” to stop Scotland voting for independence, it has been claimed.

The European Union funds – designed to win investment and jobs - have been switched north of the border after a fierce campaign by the Edinburgh parliament.

The Scottish Secretary did little to disguise that the funding boost will be a weapon to help save the Union, when the independence referendum is staged next year.

Michael Moore told Scottish newspapers: “By being in the UK, Scotland has not only got a better EU budget deal - we will also get better funding from Brussels.”

But the price will be paid by parts of England that are much poorer than Scotland, which will collectively lose £665m over six years.

Stephen Hughes, a Labour Euro-MP for the North-East, said this region would lose “up to £100m” of the £300m-odd it had expected to receive.

Mr Hughes said: “This is an attempted bribe, to persuade the people of Scotland that they should vote to stay in the United Kingdom.

“People in the North-East will be justifiably angry that this is going on. It will be bewildering that money will be taken from the North-East and given to Scotland, which is better off."

Downing Street has insisted the decision had “nothing to do with the independence referendum”, which is to be staged on September 18 next year.

But Mr Hughes said: “It adds insult to injury, because Scotland already enjoys incentives to persuade businesses to invest there, which we don’t have in the North-East. It’s unfair.”

The controversy has blown up after European leaders – including David Cameron – agreed a real-terms cut in EU spending, at a summit last month.

As a result, the UK’s allocation of EU structural funds will be slashed, threatening Scotland – because it is richer than the likes of the North-East – with a 32 per cent reduction.

After protests from Edinburgh, the Coalition government has now agreed a five per cent for each of the UK nations, for the 2014-2020 period.

It means Scotland will receive £193m more than if allocations had been based on “need”, in line with EU guidelines – while England will receive £665m less.

Yet, Scotland’s gross value added (GVA) per head currently stands at 98.6 per cent of the UK average, while the North-East languishes at just 75.9 per cent.

The government has been accused of a string of measures favouring Scotland, including:

* Axing the One NorthEast development agency – while Scottish Enterprise survives, able to tempt firms north of the border with lucrative grants.

* Refusing to review the much-criticised Barnett Formula, which delivers much higher public spending to Scotland than to England.

* Picking Edinburgh as the location for the £3bn Green Investment Bank – rejecting numerous bids from England, including from the Tees Valley.

The North-East was pledged £330m of structural funds between 2007 and 2013, although – because the UK must provide matched funding – not all the cash has been spent.

The grants part-funded NETPark at Sedgefield, County Durham, the Tees Valley Industrial Programme and the Innovation Accelerator project, at the Wilton Centre, near Redcar.

Announcing the five per cent across-the-board cuts, Mr Moore pointed out that an independent Scotland would have had no choice but to accept the 32 per cent loss.

He said: “By sharing the cut in EU structural funds across the UK, the Government is protecting Scotland from the big cut we would otherwise receive.

“Scotland will now get £193m more than it would if the EU funding formula was applied directly.”

Invasion of the UKIP daleks

The fantastic Star Etheridge introduces the new disability policy she's been writing at the party conference in Essex.

Another Tory defects to UKIP

Chiltern District Councillor, David Meacock, has defected from the Conservatives to UKIP.

Cllr Meacock, who represents Chalfont Common on Chiltern District Council, resigned from the Tories in protest over their support for the HS2 white elephant.

I cannot in all honesty continue to ask the local electorate to support the Conservative Party when it is so determinedly hell-bent on destroying our cherished Chilterns

Welcome to UKIP, Cllr Meacock. 

UKIP win by-election in Humberston & New Waltham

UKIP got some great by-election results yesterday: one win and two second places which made up for the one last place.

Humberston & New Waltham
Party	Candidate	Votes	Vote %	Change
UKIP	Stephen Harness	1,098	42.0%	+6.6%
Conservative	Harry Hall	738	28.2%	-15.3%
Labour	Ashley Smith	470	18.0%	-3.1%
Lib Dem	Stephen Stead	311	11.9%	+11.9%

Pemberton
Party	Candidate	Votes	Vote %	Change
Labour	Sam Murphy	1,084	57.4%	-22.7%
UKIP	Alan Freeman	451	23.9%	+23.9%
Community Action	Peter Franzen	203	10.7%	-1.0%
Conservative	Jonathan Cartwright	89	4.7%	-3.5%
BNP	Dennis Shambley	63	3.3%	+3.3%

Bilborough
Party	Candidate	Votes	Vote %	Change
Labour	Wendy Smith	1,542	67.2%	+5.9%
UKIP	Irenea Marriott	347	15.1%	+15.1%
Conservative	Ian Culley	176	7.7%	-11.9%
Green	Katharina Boettge	103	4.5%	+4.5%
Lib Dem	John Calvert	96	4.2%	-5.8%
Elvis Loves Pets	David Bishop	31	1.4%	+1.4%

Wollaton East and Lenton Abbey
Party	Candidate	Votes	Vote %	Change
Labour	Sam Webster	627	52.9%	+10.0%
Lib Dem	Tony Sutton	368	31.0%	+1.4%
Conservative	Jeanna Parton	116	9.8%	-14.3%
UKIP	Andrew Taylor	75	6.3%	+2.8%

Congratulations on the win Cllr Harness and well done to the other three candidates for putting themselves forward and achieving two second places.

Nigel Farage's Common Sense Tour packs out Worcester Guildhall

Nigel Farage's "Common Sense" tour of England is under way and he's being met with packed venues wherever he goes.

I went to the public meeting at Worcester Guildhall last night and not only was it standing room only in the hall (which has a capacity of 200 people) but about 40 people had to sit or stand outside in the lobby and listen to his speech over the PA.

Pre-meeting speech for the benefit of those who couldn't fit in the 200 seat hall

There were, naturally, a number of local UKIPpers there but there were also a large number of non-members who had just gone along to see what UKIP and Nigel Farage were like.  With the exception of the one strange man who heckled Nigel and later admitted to me that he'd only gone there to cause trouble, Nigel's speech was met with universal approval and rapturous applause.

March Madness? Not from where I'm standing.

As we approach the 'fools' day, merely I report upon current events locally. The current upsurge in support was recognised recently in the 'Gooshays' by election with UKIP taking 39% of the vote. On the back of this Lawrence Webb was subsequently elected. Thurrock and Havering worked together albeit disjointed to grab the 1st London seat, no mean feat.

The usual trivia ensued "its a flash in the pan" or "its a protest vote". One thing is for sure a sea tide of change in politics in our country is happening right before our eyes and like it or not WE are part of it. The burden upon ones shoulders is a heavy task to bear but that we must.

Today a painter and decorator stood shoulders with a truck driver and along with 10 or so other members helped to bring the total to 5000 leaflets distributed in Laindon and neighboring areas. No mean feat for a bunch of unelected, unpaid volunteers. The tired parties that spin their usual rubbish missed a trick some years back. Boots on the ground and talking with people trumps 'top down dictats' left,right and centre from the establishment.

The 'toots' from the horn of 'white van man' and being approached from passing motorists having spotted a UKIP rosette to stop and chat suggests WE must work harder to get our message out

It is my view the NEC and those of position within UKIP heed and consider the following. That is to say that 'grass roots' is the fuel and moreover provides the oxygen for the party to grow. It goes against current dogma that Globalisation (global) is the answer where 'local' holds the keys to future success imho, agree?

Local man Gregg Morrish fed up to the back teeth of the current administration at Westminster has thrown his support to the Thurrock campaign and accordingly we back him. Gregg @moggdm is now spearheading the campaign as lead organiser for Chafford and North Stifford ward. It's one of those areas that have been off the radar previously but now one which will be developed. All thanks to Gregg.

Canvassing today brought an interesting situation. We (UKIP) standing at a juncture noticed a Labour 'leafler', we were 5 and he was .....well 1, the look on his face.  I smiled, said hello and was genuinely friendly remarking upon leafleting in the snow. Carrying on he went about his work and so did we. Being friendly toward those of different political persuasion is no bad thing me thinks.

Membership UP
Volunteers UP
Fed Up UP
People that want change UP big time.

Wherever you are ,you are not alone for in Thurrock and Basildon and *if* it represents the groundswell of opinion ~  2013 is likely to become the 'tipping point ' for UKIP.

Peter Smith
Branch Treasurer
UKIP Thurrock and Basildon branch.

 UKIP

         

Deputy Leader of Horsham District Council defects to UKIP

The Deputy Leader of Horsham District Council, Cllr Roger Arthur, has defected from the Tories to UKIP.

A lot of traditional supporters have been disappointed at the continuing lack of strong direction. Many of those were footsoldiers, who have been departing in their droves, such that quite a few local associations are no longer viable as fighting machines.

Cllr Arthur said that the Conservative Party has lost touch with its core values and he had become disillusioned with the Tory leadership.

Cllr Arthur will remain as Deputy Leader of Horsham District Council and is the fifth councillor to defect to UKIP this week and the 19th defection this year.

Another UKIP by-election win

UKIP Telford & Wrekin Chairman, Denis Allen, has won tonight's by-election for the Dothill ward of Wellington Town Council.

Denis secured a whopping 46.25% of the vote, not just beating the Labour, Conservative and Lib Dem candidates but taking more than double the votes of the second placed Labour candidate.

The results were:

Name	Party	Votes	%
Denis Allen	UKIP	303	46.25%
Margaret Malcolm	Labour	151	23%
Ed Bird	Conservative	108	16.5%
David Holloway	Lib Dem	90	13.75%

Three councillors defect to UKIP

Three councillors have defected to UKIP today in North Yorkshire.

Cllr Stephanie Todd announced her defection from the Tories at a press conference in Scarborough today and was joined by two independent councillors - Cllr Sam Cross and Cllr John Jay-Hanmer - who are also switching their allegiance to UKIP.

Cllr Todd sits on Richmondshire District Council and Cllr Cross and Cllr Jay-Hanmer sit on Scarborough Borough Council.

This brings the total number of councillors who have defected to UKIP this year to 18 - 13 Tories (an average of one a week), 1 Lib Dem, 3 independents and one local party.

EU says no to restricting benefits for immigrants

Has anyone got a plan "B"?

The EU has blown a hole in Cast Iron Dave's plans to stop immigrants from getting access to benefits unless they've lived in the country for 5 years.

EU Commission spokesman, Jonathon Todd, has told Dave that they'll be scrutinising his plans to make sure they don't discriminate against EU citizens.  The EU's definition of discrimination against EU citizens is not having the same rights as the "natives".

Once again, UKIP is confirmed as the only party willing to do what needs to be done to crack down on economic immigration.

New Forest District Councillor defects to UKIP

Conservative New Forest District Councillor, Chris Lagdon, has defected to UKIP over a decision to start charging disabled drivers for parking.

UKIP's policies on disability and incapacity have been brought right up to date by the fantastic Star Etheridge who is a wheelchair user herself.  One thing UKIP is getting really good at is getting industry experts to advise on policy.  UKIP's defence policy has been revised by a former RAF officers and the health policy was rewritten by a former matron.

Cllr Lagdon said that he couldn't be part of an administration that tries to make money out of vulnerable people and described some of the arguments in favour of charging disabled people to park as "infantile thinking".

I cannot be associated with a party which treats the disabled of our community with such contempt

Cllr Lagdon is UKIP's first district councillor on New Forest District Council and will hopefully be joined by many more in May.

Cyprus punished heavily in EU bailout deal

We knew the terms of the EU bailout deal for Cyprus would be punishing because they went to the Russians first but what has been agreed overnight is worse than anyone would have imagined.

Accounts held with the Popular Bank of Cyprus (Laiki) with deposits over €100k will be confiscated and used to pay the bank's debts and what is left will be moved to the Bank of Cyprus.  Laiki will then be closed down and its toxic assets will be transferred to a "bad bank".  Savings over €100k in Bank of Cyprus will also be plundered by an unspecified amount.  Bond holders in Laiki will be "wiped out" according to the Dutch Finance Minister, Jeroen Dijsselbloem.

As well as the legalised theft of peoples' savings Cyprus will be subjected to a destructive and degrading EU austerity programme.  The Cypriot economy hasn't just been wounded, it's been comprehensively destroyed and all because they went to Russia for money rather than subject themselves to EU austerity.

Nigel Farage has already warned people to take their money out of Spanish banks because he predicts the collapse of the Spanish banking system and now the EU has shown that it is prepared to sanction the theft of ordinary peoples' savings you would be foolish not to follow his advice.  The whole banking system is based on trust and that trust has been fatally undermined not just in Cyprus but the whole €urozone.  The "save the €uro at all costs" mantra really does mean at all costs, even if it means stealing citizens' savings.