Newsletter July/August 2009

FROM THE SECRETARY:

The next important event in our Branch calendar is our publicity stall in Enfield Town Park on Saturday, 5th and Sunday, 6th September. Although our chief aim is to promote UKIP, it is also a useful place to raise funds. We are planning (a) to have a bottle tombola so we need donations for this. Bottles of wine attract the customers but other bottles are acceptable, e.g. sauce or shower gel, etc. If everyone donated ONE bottle, we would have an attractive display; (b) to have small items for sale, e.g. toys, ornaments or paperback books. If you are able to give an hour or two on the stall, please let Evelyn know (020 8363 7523). Provided the weather is fine, it is a good day out.

It is our AGM on 7th September and we will be voting for a new Chairman, Deputy Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer. Come and hear a summary of the Branch’s activities over the year and plans for the future.

Evelyn Rolph - Branch Secretary

Norwich North by-election
The Conservatives won the seat from Labour with the Lib. Dems, coming third and UKIP fourth only 800 votes behind. Glenn Tingle, our candidate, got 11.8% of the vote. Fred spent a total of 14 days in Norwich helping with leafleting and met a number of members from other branches. He had bed & breakfast at the prestigious Wensum Valley Golf and Country Club, paid for by the Norwich UKIP Branch.

The BBC chose to ignore UKIP and interviewed the Tory, Labour, Lib. Dem. and Green candidates on Newsnight. The BBC Eastern region TV held a hustings meeting for the same 4 candidates to which Glenn Tingle was not invited. There was no mention of the number of votes UKIP had won on the radio news the following day. Dan Hannan, a Conservative MEP, wrote an article in the Daily Telegraph accusing the BBC of being blatantly biased.

On 5th May I reported that the Taxpayers Alliance had raised concerns about EU cash being given to the BBC World Service Trust. Way back in January 2008 I reported that the BBC had received £1.4 million in grants from the EU over the previous 5 years as well as a loan of £141 million from the EU-backed European Investment Bank. We can draw our own conclusions as to why UKIP is so frequently ignored.

On the same day as the Norwich North by-election, UKIP’s Peter Reeve won a seat on both the District and County Council at the Ramsey (Cambridgeshire) by-election whilst Derek Armstrong won a seat for UKIP on Broseley Town Council (West Midlands). Two Labour councillors on Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council have decided to defect to UKIP.

European Arrest Warrant
On 23rd July our Enfield lad, Andrew Symeou, was packed off to Greece to face charges of murder without any apparent evidence. Two of his friends claimed they were tortured by the police to disclose his name. Gerard Batten (our UKIP MEP for the London Region) has been supporting the Symeou family for the past year and attended all the hearings opposing extradition so I was most surprised to read in the Enfield Independent (22nd July) that Fair Trials International, Liberty and Joan Ryan were giving support - no mention of Gerard!

Talking of Joan Ryan, the Conservatives got the support of 74 Labour MPs over the extradition of the other Enfield man, Gary McKinnon, to the USA but when the Conservatives called for an urgent review of the 2003 Extradition Act, most of them, including Joan Ryan, voted in favour of Gary facing trial in America.

At the end of July the press reported on the case of Deborah Dark who was arrested in France in 1989 but at her trial was found not guilty. In 1990 the prosecution appealed and without informing her or her solicitor she was sentenced to 6 years in prison. In 2005 a European Arrest Warrant was issued, again neither Ms. Dark nor her solicitor were informed. It was only when she went on holiday to Spain recently that she was arrested and held in prison for a month before the Spanish decided not to extradite her to France because of the length of time that had elapsed.

Hedge funds
On 1st May I reported that the EU is proposing tougher regulation on hedge and private equity funds. London Mayor Boris Johnson described it as “utterly crazy”. The Hedge Funds and Private Equity Report was voted through last September by a massive majority of MEPs including Conservatives. Nigel Farage said: “Most continental politicians accept that the business driven out of the city by this legislation will ... leave the EU altogether ... but that doesn’t matter. What matters is damaging British interests.”

Law Lords
In 2003 Tony Blair decided to abolish the Law Lords, the highest court in the land and set up instead the US-style Supreme Court which removes Parliament completely from any role in the courts system. The Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer decreed that the new Supreme Court justices should have a prestigious building which has cost taxpayers £100 million. The decision which the Law Lords delivered on 30th July was the last, ending 133 years of history.

Day-to-day news from July

1st - Sweden has taken over the EU Presidency from the Czech Republic. The Swedes want to present the Stockholm Programme, a five-year plan for increased cooperation and exchange of information on everything from the internet to migration. [How safe will your personal data be on an EU-wide database? - Ed].

2nd - UKIP has teamed up with other Eurosceptics to form a new 30-strong group in the EU Parliament. The group, called Europe of Freedom and Democracy comprises UKIP’s 13 MEPs, 9 from Italy, Denmark (2), Greece (2), Finland (1), France (1), the Netherlands (1) and Slovakia (1).

2nd - Official crime figures show that Britain has more violent crime than any other EU country.

6th - France and Germany have set up a “working group” to block reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) after 2013. In December 2005 Tony Blair gave up part of Britain’s rebate on the promise of a “review” of the CAP (which makes food dearer). William Hague said at the time: “Seldom in the course of European negotiations has so much been surrendered for so little.”

7th - Britain has given France £15 million to pay for new technology to search vehicles heading for Britain.

8th - The BNP leader, Nick Griffin, has admitted defeat in his attempts to form a new political group in the EU Parliament. This means that the BNP will not be eligible for further EU funding and speaking time but the two BNP MEPs will collect combined salaries and allowances worth over £700,000 a year. They had planned to donate 10% to party funds but have been reminded that this is illegal.

9th - The EU Parliament building in Strasbourg was poorly constructed and it has now been discovered that the metallic beams supporting the dome were only partially fireproofed. When Fred visited in Sept. 2008 the debating chamber had been closed because part of the ceiling had fallen in.

9th - The EU is to continue to buy and store butter and skimmed milk powder until 2011. By controlling supply the EU can force the price up.

9th - The EU and the US have signed an extradition and legal assistance agreement which has significantly extended the list of crimes for which suspects can be extradited.

10th - Citizens from Montenegro, Serbia and Macedonia will no longer need visas to enter the EU from 1st January 2010. [I wonder how many will come here? - Ed].

13th - In an attempt to stop terrorists entering the country, the UK is planning to introduce an e-border scheme whereby details of the person travelling are submitted 24 hours in advance and checked against databases. The EU says this breaches EU law on free movement of people.

15th - The EU Parliament’s opening ceremony included uniformed soldiers parading to the tune of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony (Ode to Joy) under the EU flag. The only difference between the EU Constitution and the Lisbon Treaty is that the latter removed the reference to the flag and anthem following the No vote in France and Holland.

16th - Britain’s only significant wind turbine factory is to close. New turbines will be built overseas, mainly in Germany, Denmark and China. Energy Secretary Ed Miliband wants to build an extra 4,000 wind turbines, the equivalent of one every day for 11 years. Meanwhile, France, Italy and Sweden have begun construction of new nuclear reactors as ways of fighting climate change whilst allowing for energy security.

17th - The Icelandic government narrowly approved starting EU accession talks. The majority of the Icelandic people don’t want to join and are worried about the EU Common Fisheries Policy decimating their fish stocks.

21st - UKIP MEP Marta Andreasen was about to take the Vice-President’s job on the EU Budgetary Control Committee when the other committee members decided to hold a secret ballot to block her appointment. Normally a vote is taken by a show of hands. Afterwards the leaders of the Socialist and EPP groups went to the bar and ordered champagne to celebrate their victory. She may not have the top job but Marta is still on the committee.

23rd - The EU Working Time Directive, due to come into force on 1st August, limits the number of hours to 48 that employees can work each week. There are fears that with a swine flu epidemic there will be too few doctors on duty to cope with very sick people in hospital. A number of countries have requested an opt-out from the WTD but not Britain.

24th - EU Justice Commissioner, Jacques Barrot, is planning to introduce EU birth and death certificates.