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16-Mar-2013
.jpg) While senior bondholders are left untouched, ordinary depositors will be forced to pay up in the EU-ECB-IMF bail-in of Cypriot banks as part of the so-called 'bailout' of Cyprus, writes UKIP Economics Spokesman Godfrey Bloom MEP.
• News that thousands of British depositors in Cypriot Banks are to have their money stolen by the EU in the so-called bailout of Cyprus is astounding.
British bank depositors in Cypriot banks will have to pay a one off levy of between 6.75% and 9.9% on their deposits as part of a new Eurozone-IMF bail in of Cypriot Banks.
This is just incredible. It is EU theft with a fancy name. |
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11-Mar-2013
 Gerard Batten MEP
• One of the big lies told about our membership the European Union is that it would ‘put three million British jobs at risk’ if we left.
In his new booklet ‘Europe’ Doesn’t Work Professor Tim Congdon, one of Britain’s leading economists, nails that lie once and for all.
Tim Congdon explains how no jobs would be at risk if we left the EU, and how nearly forty years of membership has not delivered more prosperity, jobs or trade – indeed it has helped to destroy jobs.
Please download this PDF copy of the booklet and take the trouble to read it. The arguments are easily and concisely presented and it explains why Britain would be better off out of the EU.
Please feel free to pass this booklet on to others so that they too can be armed with the truth.
www.gerardbattenmep.com |
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11-Mar-2013
 "With a membership of 54 independent states, spanning every continent and an estimated population of 2.5 billion, there is no other international organisation besides the UN that can rival the Commonwealth for global reach while the economic growth of its members put much of Europe and the developed world to shame." - UKIP Deputy Leader Paul Nuttall MEP
• Every year on the second Monday of March, I celebrate Britain’s membership of a rather exclusive political club. One where all member states share not only a common history forged by war and peace in the 19th and 20th centuries but also common values and practices that set us apart from the rest of the world. |
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11-Mar-2013
 There are more than 10,000 lobbyists in Brussels, all funded by big business to form alliances with bureaucrats and politicians in order to overcharge citizens, claims UKIP MEP Godfrey Bloom.
• Everyone knows smoking is bad for you, it is a 'given'. I do not intend to embark here on my libertarian crusade that we should all be able to go to the devil in our own way. Chips, fizzy drinks, alcohol, tobacco, obesity, lack of exercise, drinking a glass of wine a day, not drinking a glass of wine a day - depending on the fad of the latest medical magazine or what any quangocrat, who worms their way onto breakfast television sofas, says.
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07-Mar-2013
.jpg) "The rank hypocrisy of the European Commission talking about Gender equality on Womens' Day is stunning. It talks the talk but does not walk the walk." - UKIP MEP Paul Nuttall.
• For International Womens' Day on March 8th the European Commission talks a good fight about womens' equality but its own figures show [PDF] that it employs a much larger percentage of men in senior positions of authority and high grade while women are overly represented in low grade positions.
It also shows that while the UK makes up 12.5% of the EU population, UK nationals make up only 4.6% of EU officials. So much for proportionate representation of nationalities. |
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05-Mar-2013
 "While Cameron and Milliband are out bleeting for gay marriage and wasteful wind farms, we are committed to help people get a job, and take back democratic control of our country from the EU, a corrupt political union with a membership fee of £53 million a day." - UKIP MEP Paul Nuttall
• Kevin Maguire of The Mirror today argues that UKIP does not support the working class in Britain today. I am of the opinion that his poorly researched article is bonkum.
He did note correctly however, UKIP has been on a steady rise for some time.
In November last year in Corby, UKIP got 14%, then two weeks later it got 22% in working-class Rotherham and just on Friday the UKIP candidate Diane James, received 27.8% of the vote.
Did we get the vote from disgruntled toffs, and grumpy Tory voters? No we picked up voted from across the political spectrum. |
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05-Mar-2013
 By Paul Nuttall MEP
• In recent days, the political promises of the Tory party on withdrawing from the European Convention on Human Rights and curbing benefits to new EU migrants are blatantly false and can be shown to be so.
The Conservatives have no intention of fulfilling either promise because they simply cannot.
The Eastleigh by-election showed that voters are turning towards Ukip because they believe in our political message and also because they are sick of the 'lying liars' political class that we have in our country at present. This recent episode is an excellent case in point. |
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04-Mar-2013
 UKIP’s support isn’t just disaffected Tories. We speak out on issues that our political class want to cover up, writes UKIP Leader Nigel Farage MEP.
• In tight by-elections in two-party marginal seats, the other contestants usually get squeezed out. That is what makes UKIP’s 27.8 per cent share of the vote in Eastleigh after such a short campaign all the more remarkable. With each day that passed during the three-week run-up to voting, more and more commentators noticed the potential UKIP had to cause a big surprise.
A tremor has registered with the political establishment. Yet in response it has been desperately clamouring to write off the Eastleigh result as just a mid-term protest. |
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27-Feb-2013
.jpg) The reason the Tory candidate is struggling is not because of Ukip. Only one third of the Ukip vote comes from disaffected Tories, drawing the rest of our support from the Lib Dems and Labour and people who haven't voted for years..., writes UKIP Leader Nigel Farage MEP
• I got up in the middle of the night to come to Eastleigh on the first flight, before heading down the M3 in a Ukip liveried London taxi and it really got me thinking.
There's been a lot of rubbish written since the weekend, especially by Boris Johnson and other Tories claiming that a vote for Ukip is a vote for the Lib Dems.
First of all, it's a sad indictment of our political system when people are being urged not to vote for the party that may best represent their views but to vote tactically. Democracies should be representative, and having a major party trumpet this as words of warning goes to show how detached they are from what should be the true mechanisms of politics. |
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26-Feb-2013
 The loss of the UK's AAA rating is just the start of 'permanent recession' for the country if drastic action – like cutting back welfare spending – is not pursued quickly, argues UKIP MEP Godfrey Bloom.
• On Saturday morning I awoke, after a pleasurable post-debate soiree with the Durham University undergraduates to listen to an alleged expert from Liverpool Business School airing some particularly non-expert views in response to the usual witless television early morning presenter. Where do they get them? Obviously, his mantra was 'now is the time for complacency'. It did not matter - the United States and France have lost their AAA status, people 'will still buy our debt regardless' and so on. Presumably his organisation is government-sponsored so he did not want to frighten such horses as we have not yet eaten.
I managed fixed interest funds in the 1980s and 1990s, not without some success. Indeed, I even won a few prizes for so doing. I make mention of this in no boastful way. In fact, I struggled with my maths O-level and to this day make a mess of scoring in pub darts. I do however know how to read the bottom line of a balance sheet and use a pocket calculator, which is all you need to make an assessment of any bond or gilt. |
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26-Feb-2013
 "When you meet people, like I did, who say they haven't voted for thirty years but they are going to the election box to vote Ukip, you know you are on to the right thing," writes UKIP Leader Nigel farage MEP.
<< Nigel Farage with UKIP candidate for Eastleigh, Diane James
• Sadly I have not been in Eastleigh today. Other commitments mean that after a storming weekend with the campaign team I won't be back in Eastleigh until Wednesday. I say sadly, because it's fantastic to be pounding the tarmac and meeting with potential voters - speaking to people face to face and listening to their concerns and grievances.
It's fantastic how much support we are getting. Word of mouth on the street and recent polls are painting a promising picture for the party. |
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25-Feb-2013
 One of the most despicable features of the EU is its secrecy. Another despicable feature is the way the EU wastes our money. There is something about to happen that will combine this secrecy and waste, writes UKIP Deputy Leader Paul Nuttall.
• The member states of the EU, racked by the financial crisis, have requested a cut in the EU budget. This is a welcome move. However it has angered the President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, who actually wants an increase in the budget to help pay for the champagne and caviar lifestyle he is accustomed to.
Schulz is a German Socialist and, even by the standards of career politicians, is a fanatical Europhile. In the upcoming European Parliament vote on the budget, Schulz has demanded a secret ballot, and he only needs 151 MEPs to back him for it to become a reality. |
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25-Feb-2013
.png) The UK represents the largest proportion of Eurozone exports. Far from being “isolated and marginalised”, an independent Britain will be a key trading partner of Europe, writes UKIP MEP Roger Helmer.
<< Click to enlarge
• A simple and striking fact, which is little-known and has astonished a number of folk in the EU institutions in Brussels: when Britain leaves the EU, it will become the EU’s largest export market. Bigger than the USA. Bigger than China.
Some people ask whether it will be possible to negotiate a Free Trade Agreement with the EU when we leave. But with the EU scrabbling to set up FTAs with a host of countries around the world, it is inconceivable that they would not agree an FTA with their largest export customer — especially when that customer is also a major net customer. We import far more from the EU than they import from us. An FTA will benefit both sides, but arguably it will benefit them more than us. |
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22-Feb-2013
 The EU’s flawed and dangerous climate change agenda is stripping Britain of self sufficiency and energy security, and the people who end up paying the price are people heating their homes, and businesses struggling to get by." - UKIP MEP Godfrey Bloom.
<< Click to enlarge
• I find it remarkable that not one single person has referred to the EU Industrial Emissions Directive that is behind this unnecessary closure of perfectly good coal fired power stations across the country, meaning Britain will not have the capability of producing its own energy supply.
Ofgem Chief Executive Alistair Buchanan says that Britain’s fall in power production capacity will mean more imports and customers paying more. What he doesn’t say is why. |
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22-Feb-2013
 "There is a genuine feeling that Ukip are garnering support not only from disenchanted Conservatives but with people from across the political spectrum who have recognised our message as being the real political alternative," writes UKIP leader Nigel Farage MEP.
• At 8am this morning, and what a cold bitter morning it was, I bumped into a gentleman who told me he had not voted for 30 years. It was hardly the shocking news that blew out the morning haze like the perishing wind was feigning to do. Yet then he told me he was going to vote for Ukip. Not only that, but he had gone to our campaign office and requested a poster for his window. Warming news indeed.
The media has become obsessed that Ukip is taking votes from the Tories. But it's simply not that simple. Look at all the recent by-election results and I think it's clear to see we are having an impact across the board. Here in Eastleigh especially, we are causing a stir for all the other parties, and not only that, we are also finding support at around 20% from the large number of people who have simply become too disillusioned with the political elite to bother voting at all.
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20-Feb-2013
 David Cameron has said that he “wants to reform the system allowing immigrants access to housing, the NHS, the justice system, and benefits”. But what can the Government do even if it wants to? UKIP MEP Gerard Batten presents the facts in his latest briefing.
By Gerard Batten MEP
• David Cameron cannot restrict benefit payments, housing, or access to the NHS to EU citizens as he has promised to do.
EU Legislation means that EU citizens cannot be discriminated against on the basis of nationality. The linked document (PDF) lays out the situation not only regarding EU citizens but non-EU citizens.
It would certainly be a good idea and a desirable thing for benefits to non-citizens to be restricted . UKIP policy is that migrants should not be allowed access to benefits until they have paid taxes for five years – emergency treatment on the NHS would of coruse still be available, but visitors would be required to have private health insurance. |
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15-Feb-2013
 The European Commission's financial transactions tax proposal is clearly targeted to hit the City of London even though the UK is not one of the 11 EU member states taking part.
By Godfrey Bloom MEP
• The European Commission has issued new proposals on a financial transaction tax, making it crystal clear that financial institutions in member states such as the United Kingdom, outside the FTT-zone, can and will be taxed.
According to the commission proposal the tax "will be due if any party to the transaction is established in a participating member state, regardless of where the transaction takes place. This is the case both if a financial institution engaged in the transaction is, itself, established in the FTT-zone, or if it is acting on behalf of a party established in that jurisdiction." |
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14-Feb-2013
The Commission proposal is clearly targeted to tax UK financial services even though the UK has opted out of the FTT zone. This taxation is just the beginning because the tax rate will be ratcheted up over the coming years to squeeze more money from the financial services industry, says UKIP MEP Godfrey Bloom.
• The European Commission today set out the details of the Financial Transaction Tax (FTT), originally proposed by it in September 2011 and agreed by 11 member states under "enhanced cooperation."
According to the Commission, the tax is not limited to within the FTT-zone, but may apply to financial institutions in member states that are outside the zone, such as the UK.
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12-Feb-2013
 Rather than solving the problem, higher tax rates will actually reduce revenues and block growth and economic recovery. They are exactly the wrong thing to do, argues UKIP MEP Roger Helmer.
• I don’t quite know why it is, but somehow Nick Clegg’s periodic demands for a Mansion Tax remind me irresistibly of the Jack-in-the-Box. Every so often the lid pops open, and up jumps the deputy Prime Minister, demanding money with menaces. But this is not economic policy. At best, it’s a transparent attempt at populism, seeking to exploit general discontent, and our resentment of those who have more than we have ourselves.
The truth is, it would be an appalling tax. The costs might well outweigh the revenue. It would involve extensive (and disputed) valuations, tribunals, reassessments and what-all. It might well introduce price changes and distortions in the housing market.
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07-Feb-2013
 "Commissioner, you say that our climate challenges are growing. Yet the UK Met Office tells us that there has been no global warming for the last fifteen years, and they anticipate none for the next five years. Perhaps we’re worrying too much?" - UKIP MEP Roger Helmer to EU climate czar, Connie Hedegaard.
• I’ve just done a lunch debate with EU Environment Commissioner Connie Hedegaard, who is passionately Warmist and green, and not a bad communicator, having done time as a journalist. The topic was “CO2 and passenger cars: Reaching the Target”. And the target seems to be 130 gm/km by 2015 (that’s a fleet average, I believe). But they’re talking 90 gm/km by 2020 — a massive reduction.
The Commissioner spoke in glowing terms of the opportunities for fighting climate change, the relatively low cost of doing so by targeting the auto sector (though I believe that insulating buildings is an order-of-magnitude cheaper), and the commercial benefits of “leading the world” (how the Commission loves to lead the world!) in the fight for low-emission vehicles. |
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