UKIP: Nikki Sinclaire in the Sunday Times & Dr Edmond on the failure of UKIP

More stirling work from Nikki Sinclaire in the Sunday Times. And another excellent blog article by Dr Edmond on the failure of Farage's UKIP.

From the Sunday Times:

Cameron to appoint new £1m-a-year MEP

With cuts beginning to bite, the government's move to install a new MEP is labelled undemocratic and a waste of taxpayers' money

Marie Woolf

Published: 13 February 2011

The government is to install an extra Tory MEP at a cost of more than £1m a year, in a move that has been condemned as undemocratic and a waste of taxpayers’ money.

Foreign Office ministers are pushing through a law that will create a new seat for an MEP in the West Midlands constituency. The move follows a reconfiguring of seats in the European parliament that has given Britain the right to an additional MEP.

The government has decided the seat will go to a Conservative, based on the results of the last European election in the region, without holding a fresh election.

Opposition MEPs say the seat should only be created at the next European election in 2014. They argue this would be more democratic and would save money. An MEP costs about £1.2m a year in salary, office and staff costs, travel expenses, pensions and other allowances. The money will come out of the European parliament budget, which is partly funded by British taxpayers.

Nikki Sinclaire, an independent MEP for the West Midlands, called for the plan to appoint the MEP before 2014 to be scrapped. She said the money should be used to save services facing cuts.

“It is unbelievable when essential public services such as libraries and school maintenance are being cut to the bone that the government is legislating to appoint another politician,” she said.

Critics say that if a by-election had been held, the Tories would have risked losing in a region that also has significant Labour and UK Independence party support.

The new Tory MEP will take up his or her seat when all EU states have ratified the protocol. Britain is ratifying the change via the European Union Bill, now passing through parliament. The MEP is expected to take up the seat by early next year.

Yesterday, the Foreign Office said: “Like all member states, we agreed in June to ratify this protocol as soon as possible, to enable the additional MEPs to be returned to the European parliament.

“It is in no way a question of the government ‘appointing’ an additional MEP.

“The European Council outlined a number of ways that the 12 EU member states concerned could elect their additional MEPs. Like most other states who gain an additional MEP, the UK will do this by referring to the results of the last European parliamentary elections in 2009.”

The Electoral Commission said it had calculated where an extra MEP could be located, but the government had decided how the seat would be filled.

It said: “We recommended that the extra seat be allocated to the West Midlands region. That is where our remit ends.”

The commission chose the West Midlands because it has the highest number of voters per MEP of anywhere in Britain.

Dr Edmond on why UKIP is not fit for purpose

Dr Edmond was thrown off UKIP's NEC for trying to raise concerns about widspread corruption in UKIP.

From his blog:

UKIP needs more members, more talent and more UK effort to even start on the road to getting our country back by repealing the 1972 European Communities Act. Since Farage and his Cabal have taken control of UKIP membership has fallen steadily, activists, the life blood of any political party who disagree with Farage have been kicked out, and sycophantic placemen put into all the important party positions. No serious political party carries on like this. You only see this behaviour in cults where a gullible and uncritical membership are conned by, and blindly supports, a corrupt leadership whose only interest is in lining their own pockets.

Look at those at the top of UKIP enjoying a luxurious cosseted lifestyle set up by the EU but paid for ultimately by UK taxpayers. They are tame, pampered, toothless EU poodles kept in Brussels who give Barroso and the other Eurocrats democratic credibility by enabling them to claim they tolerate anti-EU parties. Its tokenism plain and simple. Ask the brothers or the sisterhood.

The lack of talent in the current UKIP leadership is staggering. Look at the elderly, self satisfied Derek Clark, UKIP MEP for the East Midlands but seldom seen there. Under him UKIP in the East Midlands has gone from the strongest region in the country in the heyday of RKS to one of closed and zombie branches with a few deeply unhappy remaining members. Its a microcosm of what is happening to UKIP over the whole UK. Godfrey Bloom UKIP MEP for Yorkshire is an embarrassment with his crass public behaviour. Bannerman, Dartmouth and Farage are ex-Tories whose political ambitions were judged by the Tory party to be far in excess of their limited talents and deemed not to be worthy of a safe Tory parliamentary seat. Given the low standard of the average Tory MP that is a pretty damning verdict.

Honest and integrity can make up for lack of ability but even in that UKIP is lacking. When was Andreasen last seen in South East region she was elected to represent? Why does Trevor Colman sit in Brussels with Farage's nasty neo-Nazi, mid-European associates. How many relatives of UKIP members died at the hands of the Nazis in the Second World War? Do the ordinary UKIP members know their cult leader associates with neo-Nazi parties in Brussels? I think not. Nicky Sinclair has shown how effective honesty, integrity and consistency can be in opposing the EU. Not surprising then she was kicked out of UKIP.

Why is Malcolm Pearson, Farage's puppet leader of UKIP, a man who at the last General Election campaigned for the Tories, still in the UKIP ruling group? Could this happen in any other party? I don't think so.

Then we have ex-chairman Nuttall MEP who counts success as defeating the BNP for 4th place in elections. UKIP is supposed to be about getting us out of the EU and the best way to handle the BNP is to ignore them! Comrade Nuttall would do better to address the needs of the jobless of Merseyside and try and recruit them for UKIP.

There is also UKIP's top management , Crowther and Duffy. No significant management track record and no organisational ability seems to sum them up. The current NEC is full of wannabe MEPs or more correctly wannabe on the gravy train who are therefore beholden to Farage for preferment.

There are many able and talented people who want us out of the EU but how many will want to join a cult party which measures its success by the leaders appearances and applause on Question Time. Its only MPs in Westminster that can get us out of the EU. This needs organisation and hard work in local elections addressing the issues of jobs, schools and health that impinge on peoples lives and earns their trust to vote for UKIP when it matters. It needs a leader who attracts people in, not one who kicks people out. Until Farage and his clique go this will not change. UKIP numbers will continue to decline, the sycophants will squabble about getting onto the EU gravy train, the BBC will continue to massage Farage's vanity with QT invites etc and UKIP will continue to slide into the garbage can of history.

I pray I will someday see our country free from the EU but clearly Farage's UKIP will play no part in our freedom struggle.

To see the original: LINK