JANUARY TO MARCH
Jake Baynes had this excellent letter published on 31st January in the Wells Journal:Give Britain back the power to be great
From David Cameron's speech, he has 'promised' the people of the United Kingdom a EU referendum, on the following conditions: if the Conservatives win the next election, based on negotiations, and in five years' time.
This cannot and will not happen based on the current EU treaties, which requires all 27 members states to agree. Only through Article 50 of the treaty of Lisbon could such renegotiation happen, which ensures continuing free-trade and does not require unanimity. And all you have to do is serve notice to quit the EU.
Mr Cameron has not done this and is unlikely to do so and he has already claimed that he wants to stay in.
Not the cleverest of negotiating skills nor the wisest of great leaders and I am sure this level of arbitration will not improve under Labour or the Liberal Democrats because they don't want the British people to have their voice either.
It is not just about the economy, it is about the right for the British people to have the power for self determination over their affairs, on laws and justice, defence, education, agriculture, fishing, energy, social welfare, the NHS, broadcasting, among all other aspects that make up our society.
You cannot control any of these facets if we remain a member. And if we do remain in the EU, we pass these rights to essentially a foreign power, namely a new country probably called the United States of the Europe, or something very similar.
This is what we the people must decide on and I for one want this decision now, not in five years, or on some wishy-washy 'cast iron' guarantee, which we have been promised before.
On the economy the EU costs the UK, beyond just fiscal contributions, which equates to about £20 billion per annum (£53 million per day), to £150 billion per annum if you allow for punitive bureaucracy, lost jobs, waste, fraud, regulation, among others, according to Open Europe, Tax Payers Alliance and economics professor Tim Congdon of UKIP.
For every £1 the EU 'gives' to the UK it costs us £2.60. According to the IMF the EU's trade with the rest of the world has fallen from 30 per cent in 1980 to projected figures of 17 per cent by 2017.
Outside, the UK can renegotiate trade deals, protected by the World Trade Organisation, with the EU and other countries of the world. Other countries outside the EU who trade with the EU do very well indeed and are not ruled by the EU.
In conclusion, Europhiles have used these scare tactics before, as far back as 1973, when Ted Heath knowingly lied to the British people when he advised people to vote for EU membership, with a promise of 'no loss of UK national sovereignty', followed by Harold Wilson's referendum on the Common Market in 1975.
David Cameron's repetitious mantra for a 'Single Market' is such a fear tactic. The UK was great once and it can be again soon but it won't be if we remain, as inevitably it won't exist.
These empty promises are just a smokescreen but at least the 'elephant in the room', is now beginning to be seen, but will 'straw man arguments' prevent us seeing her completely?
Jake Baynes
UKIP Wells Association
Tony Turner, Yeovil, writes again in reply to criticism of Nigel Farage and UKIP in the Western Daily Press. His letter was published on the 9th February.
Letter writer lives in cloud cuckoo land
I have no doubt that at the May 2 elections there will be many more UKIP candidates than " All the South Party" ones. I can assure Mr Craig that UKIP does not in any way belong to a class society. Its growing membership comes from all walks of life, in both the North and South of the UK. To think that UKIP will take any pressure off Cameron - I suggest that he should come out of his dreamworld and live a little.
If Mr Craig wishes to continue his untruths he should join up with those other Parties who bend the truth and do U-Turns.
Tony Turner
DECEMBER
Sir,
We now learn that the Government will not debate fox hunting "Because they would lose the vote". So what is new with our present MPs?
It is quite apparent that this is the same excuse for not allowing an "In/Out" referendum on our membership of the EU.
The previous Government emptied the Treasury coffers and left a massive debt which after nearly two years is still increasing.
It is not helped by Chancellor Osborne throwing money at Banks to lend out at low interest rates resulting in further reductions in savings interest rates. Pensioners trying to survive on a Basic State Pension and hard earned savings are increasingly living below the poverty line.
The Government must surely have learnt that Labour's Tax, Borrow and Spend failed then and is failing now.
Who is benefiting now? For a start Chancellor Osborne has increased his team of highly paid advisors as possibly so have newly created Ministers.
Our present MPs no longer represent the people. No wonder UKIP has now become a force taking third place in popularity and still growing.
Time to give them a chance and throw out the Lib-Lab-Con tricksters.
TonyTurner
EU - IMMIGRATION - REGIONAL SPATIAL PLANNING - HOUSING - PLANNING CONTROLS
John Kelly is UKIP East Devon Chairman, so strictly speaking this is outside our UKIP Somerset area. However, as we are going to be featuring planning issues in the New Year and these points are of national concern, I have taken the liberty of including his letter, published in the Sidmouth Herald here. His note to all in the South West precedes the published letter:
My letter below was published w/c 4.12.12. The Leader of the District Council had accused me previously of scaremongering and making cheap political points - yes indeed, but nothing trumps the truth!!
Nigel always tells me that people aren't interested in regional matters, but now we have the proof that he's wrong!! The people don't like it up 'em, at last!!
I know you will have planning issues in your patch, so please make use of this audit trail as you see fit, but don't leave people in the dark, which is where the councillors would have them be!
Letters to The Editor, Sidmouth Herald
Dear Sir,
I have been amazed at the strength of feeling shown by Sidmouth residents at the recent planning applications and at the general lack of knowledge as to why this is all happening.
Let me attempt to explain just why and how all this planning and development activity is going on, and show that the EU is behind it all.
First, we have to start with the central pillar of the EU Policies, the Social Cohesion Policy; this provides for the development of "Environmental, economic, territorial and social cohesion" across the entire EU, and the principle of free movement of labour and capital across the EU.
Under the Blair/Brown government, the push for regional government and devolution was made but failed to gain the desired elected assemblies in the English counties. So, we were “given” unelected regional assemblies which, inter alia but crucially, developed Regional Spatial Strategies (RSS) for each region. These strategies aimed at coping with the effects of "increased levels of immigration" resulting from the Social Cohesion Policy.
Second, with the change of government (2010) and the abolition of the unelected Regional Assemblies which had the statutory planning powers, Eric Pickles & Co, pressed on with the project but changed all the names in order to "sterilise" the process of any EU overtones.
Accordingly, the RSS became "defunct" in name, but the powers and policies were passed down to local government as a "Core Strategy", later changed again to Local Development Frameworks, both of which preserved the key elements of the RSS.
Third, Minutes of the East Devon Local Development Framework Panel, to which Mr Diviani has helpfully referred me , show clearly that in July 2011, the RSS was to be "recalibrated" as regards housing figures following the economic downturn, and I understand that the consultants were paid around £50,000 to do that recalibration!
The point of this letter is to demonstrate that this push for Social Cohesion and all that involves, is a product of EU Policy being handed down to national and local government level.
It is, or should be, for the people to have this explained to them and asked for their approval, but of course, that is not the way EU matters are pursued. The powers of the bureaucrats and their avoidance of the EU connection, are key to the EU processes but are suitably disguised for fear of offending the natives.
The present Government is pushing for more and more land development in order to meet the increasing need for houses, and yet has admitted just this week that it can do nothing to stop the flow of immigrants from EU countries. In 2013, Bulgaria and Roumania become eligible for this “open door” policy as we head for a population of 70 million.
This is sheer madness and it’s no wonder 4000+ Sidmothians are up in arms – at last!
Yours faithfully John Kelly UKIP East Devon Chairman.
NOVEMBER
The 29th November saw more opinions in the Bath Chronicle from Christopher Hales:These all sound pretty nasty ideas to me:
There are some odd coincidences in life and one was to read Michael Stanley of UKIP's reply to my letter.
In this I said that UKIP would let people with money move around Europe to choose where to construct their factories for the cheapest labour, while preventing British people from moving abroad to get jobs where the money had gone by pulling us out of Europe and its free movement of Labour laws.
He declared that they are not a party of nasty people, but on the same day, Thursday, October 18, The Independent reported the views of the UKIP candidate for police commissioner in the Hull area.
His ideas included, Yorkshire women should be at home and always have dinner on the table when their husband returns, bringing us into line with China and Iran by restoring the death penalty and ending police policy on hate crimes. However one feels about the others, which are all pretty nasty to me, the latter is by definition nasty.
Meanwhile, Tim Newark of the Taxpayer's Alliance on November 8 declares it is unfair that our council tax should be used to subsidise, to the tune of about £80,000 the activities of trade union staff to negotiate terms and conditions, deal with the case load of troubled employees and fund their secretarial roles.
However, by the same token, it is also unfair that non-members of unions get the benefit of those negotiations without paying union subscriptions.
It cannot be a fair world or else we would all have the same food on the same day and fall ill to the same degree when a flu virus is around.
Therefore the alternative to the council paying the employer's fair share of the cost of these negotiations, which is the equivalent of about one third of some council chief's wages, to ensure all stakeholders reach an amicable agreement, without animosity, is to return to the days of closed shop workplaces where workers have to be members of one union or another.
I am sure the unions will be happy if that is what Tim wants.
The third way is to return the feudal system of government or slavery and of course there is the possibility that such is what some people who cannot see the consequences of their actions will bring on us.
The Green Party wants a "living wage" introduced.
That would mean all in Bath would receive a wage above the minimum wage since it is more expensive to live here.
NICHOLAS HALES Uphill Drive Larkhall Bath
'Nasty' party tag is not justified
Replied Michael Stanley, published by the Chronicle on December 13th
With reference to Mr Hales' letter (November 29), I would like to make the following points.
Firstly, I believe he has incorrectly quoted from the article referred to in the Independent but the thrust of his argument is that UKIP is nasty because a prominent party member is apparently in favour of capital punishment.
Please let me reassure your readers that UKIP as a party is opposed to capital punishment and I cannot envisage a situation which would alter this stance given that the majority of the British public are also opposed to it.
Secondly, Mr Hales takes issue with a quote from a spokesman from the Taxpayers Alliance. As this is an entirely separate organisation to UKIP, I cannot see why your correspondent thinks this justifies our name being besmirched.
Thirdly, Mr Hales makes reference to the minimum wage. Here, I would note that UKIP were the prime movers in adopting policies to lift the lower tax threshold substantially in order to free low paid workers from the burden of tax, so again the "nasty" tag is simply unjustified.
As I mentioned in my previous reply, we are happy to invite Mr Hales to meet with our local branch to allay any concerns that he might still have.
MICHAEL STANLEY UKIP – Bath & North East Somerset Branch Queens Parade Bath
A FUTURE TO BE WARY OF...
Dear Editor,
In your recent article, 'Radio Analysis of UKIP vote', you referred to my recent interview with BBC Radio 4's' Shaun Ley, where you mentioned that David Heathcoat Amory laid the blame for his defeat 'firmly at the door of UKIP'. DHA also admitted to this in his autobiography 'Confessions of a Eurosceptic'.
I would like to stress that DHA has more recently admitted that as a 'Eurosceptic' he would still wish to remain a member of the European Union, which is rather contrary to the title of his book, and many leading conservatives, like the Educational Secretary, Rt Hon Michael Gove MP, among others and the many back benchers of the Labour and Conservative Parties, who believe Britain must leave the federalist EU. They should be venerated for their brave stance.
Further to the BBC interview, I was contacted by Gawain Towler, Press Officer and spokesman for UKIP, that Nigel Farrage completely supported our GE decision to stand, and that our actions were justified, especially with DHA recent pro European Union stance.
It was also mentioned in brief, that my original support for the Liberal Democrats, which I do confess I did vote for in the past but was never a member of, was cut short. Thus on the cutting floor, the BBC failed to include that the reason I stopped voting for the Lib Dems and any other party for that matter, was because that each party seemed to think it was quite right to hand over our country's sovereignty to a foreign power. I believe that our elected MPs do not have this right and is an act of treason. I am sure in the future this will be seen as such. I also believe that all countries of Europe should remain sovereign and free. A federal Europe is a threat to all the free people of Europe and again the test of time will identify this.
With Europe ever closer to implosion, it is imperative that the people of Britain vote for the party they believe will get them out of this mess because before too long we too will be dragged past the point of no return and into the abyss, currently being experienced by Greece and Spain. I believe only UKIP has this answer. If this however is not the party for you, you will need to seriously start petitioning your party to commit in their manifesto, beyond the 'Cast Iron Guarantees' and failed promises of a Referendum from the Lib/Lab/Con, to make such a promise. But will you be able to trust them? As they have so far failed to deliver such promises in previous GEs.
Lastly out of every crisis, illustrated in Naomi Klein’s book 'The Shock Doctrine', a solution is always found, something that, without such a crisis, the solution would have been unheard of.
Thus, my point is this, out of this financial crisis, fiscal and political union will emerge and this is the tool that the federalists will use to drive the final nails into the coffins of the free and democratic nation states of Europe.
A future which every free-thinking individual should be greatly wary of.
Yours sincerely, Jake Baynes, UKIP Wells Association
Where are the policies?
Asked Christopher Inge, following up in the Wells Journal of 15th November:
The political arc described by Jake Baynes in his engaging rant (Why I stopped voting Lib Dem: November 8) is worthy of a book – or at least a pantomime.
To travel from the party of Gladstone to Nigel Farage seems like a life lived in reverse: from the grown-up doctrine of internationalism to the baby babble of The Party That Only Says No.
Not only no to Europe, but no to free trade, and no to any alliance that impacts on what Farage deems to be our sovereignty.
From a manifesto of overwhelming negativity it is hard to discern what UKIP is actually for. Are Farage and his increasingly strident supporters on the extreme right of the Tory party in favour of an isolated, protectionist Britain?
That is the logic of their position. Do they believe they can keep the 3.5-million jobs at risk if Britain leaves the EU?
It would seem so. Presumably, then, they also believe that a return to our 16th century status as a single country without an enduring alliance can sustain what power and influence we still have?
Mr Baynes' retreat from realpolitik to the fantasy world of No-No Farage is vitiated by myopia and historical amnesia.
The British invented clubs and the concept of pooling a certain measure of personal freedom to gain from the power of the collective.
We also fashioned one of the first federations – what else is the United Kingdom? – and have made it work over 300 years. Finally, having been founder members of the UN and NATO, we should have no fears about the give and take of negotiation with partners who think differently to ourselves.
We do, though, need to engage – to work for change from the inside instead of forever carping at the margins.
If Mr Baynes wants to recant and reverse back up his political timeline to his early home in the Liberal Democrat party, he would be most welcome. He would also not be alone.
Plenty of others are discovering that there is nothing to UKIP beyond a Paisleyesque refusal to countenance a European future. There's nothing you would call a policy.
Nothing to cut the deficit or get us all back to work. Rather the reverse.
Christopher Inge Bleadney
The Last word? (See www.ukip.org )
A swift and succinct response from Richard Evans was published in the Shepton Mallet Journal 22nd November:While tacitly banging the Liberal Democrat drum, Christopher Inge launches into a long and rambling attack on UKIP in last week's paper.
He asks where are the UKIP policies? A quick visit to the UKIP website will reward him with a wealth of information and lay to rest many of his inaccurate and speculative arguments.
It is somewhat ironic that Mr Inge's letter appeared on the very day of the Corby by-election – a day when the Lib Dem candidate polled just a third of the votes of the UKIP candidate and came a dismal last. More than that, she polled so few votes that she lost her deposit.
Food for thought, perhaps, for Mr Inge.
Richard Evans Weymouth Road Evercreech
This man is wrong and wrong again
How is it that one man can always get it wrong?
I refer to Graham Watson's letters in your October 18 and 25 editions. This is the man who supports spending £53 million per day on the EU, locking up Britons in former KGB jails without trial and now wishes to despoil our fair county with vast wind turbines and solar arrays. He also subscribes to the Goebbels school of propaganda – tell it often enough and it may be believed.
Firstly his October 18 letter. Has he not heard that every wind turbine needs to be backed up by regular power stations? That wind turbines and the likes of the 32 acre industrial solar array planned near Bodden are hugely inefficient and only make money if they receive massive subsidies (paid for by inflating our energy bills)?
That, according to Government figures, homes near wind turbines lose value by between 10-20 per cent? That many readers may suffer health problems from their proximity to wind turbines? That our tourist based tourism will suffer? (But German industry will benefit at our expense). That our wildlife will decline?
Graham Watson rails against fracking (which is making the USA one of the most energy rich nations in the world) on the grounds that it is unproven. But the medical effects of his favoured wind turbines are similarly unproven.
Maybe we are creating the next asbestos type problem with millions suing wind turbine companies and land owners as a result of long-term health damage. And what are the environmental consequences of dismantling all those solar panels and huge turbines in 25 years (or earlier if they fail)?
Then in his October 25 letter he repeats the untruth that 3.5 million jobs are dependent on trade with the EU. Our exports to the EU are declining (as the EU itself is declining as it falls more and more under nonsenses of the sclerotic EU bureaucracy). Britain's future lies with trade with the expanding economies of the world such as Brazil, India and China. And of course the USA remains our single largest market. The UK has always been a world player – not a Little European.
Latest research shows (Tim Congdon, former Government economic policy advisor in his "How Much Does the EU cost Britain?") that the total cost of EU membership to the average UK household was over £5,000 for 2011! That is more than many folk earned or received in pensions last year. Just think how taxation could be cut and services improved (yes both!) without that burden.
Thank goodness we are going to be able to vote out Graham Watson and his ilk in 2014 when UKIP looks set to take all of the MEP seats in the south west. UKIP alone amongst the major parties is committed to refusing wind turbines. And of course to get us out of the wretched EU which costs us dearly and is behind so many of our local and national problems.
Barry Harding
Chairman UKIP
Somerton & Frome
OCTOBER
The changing face of world heritage city
Two of Bath’s architectural gems that are in the news at the moment are the colannades by the weir at Pulteney Bridge, which it is hoped will be transformed into shops and restaurants, and the old Blue Coat School opposite the Theatre Royal which is being transformed into flats and a restaurant.
Old photographs of both these buildings are included in a new book by Bath writer and historian Jenny Knight called Bath Through Time.
The book is a view through the lens of Bath by keen, local historian, Jenny, who has lived in the area for more than 20 years. By hunting down old photographs and illustrations, Jenny shows how much Bath has changed, comparing old images of the area with those of the 21st century. The book is bang up to date as it has photographs of Bath ’s 2012 Jubilee celebrations and the touring of the 2012 London Olympic flame.
Bath Through Time has ten chapters and includes a comprehensive variety of vintage photos juxtaposed with new. The book highlights the various forms of transport over the years, Bath’s landmarks and characters.
Bath Through Time by Jenny Knight (pictured right) is published by Amberley Publishing at £14.99.
From the Shepton Mallet Journal of Thursday 25th October
UKIP members meet party chief
 | |
| Pictured from left...Geoff Lawson, Nigel Farage and Barry Harding |
Evercreech residents Geoff and Cherry Lawson were among the guests invited to attend a garden party at Neil Hamilton's country estate at Hullavington in Wiltshire.
Mr Lawson, who recently resigned from Evercreech Parish Council after several terms of service since 1978, is pictured with Nigel Farage, leader of UKIP, and Barry Harding, the constituency chairman of the Somerton and Frome branch of UKIP, of which Mr Lawson is a member. Mr Lawson said the occasion was attended by more than 300 people and 'was a great day'.
Mr Lawson, a keen supporter of UKIP, resigned from the parish council last month - angered over what he believes to be an invasion of his personal privacy with the introduction of the new Localism Act.
Thursday 4th October saw the following letter published in the Bath Chronicle .....See the Nasty side of the UKIP
At the recent UKIP conference, their leader Nigel Farage declared that his team are business men in their other lives, which apparently makes them different from the Conservative politicians.
One has to doubt if there is any representatives from co-operatives like Harvest and the Co-op in Bath or worker share companies like Waitrose.
What UKIP advocates appears to be the extreme right version of the extreme left's "Class War".
Should they achieve their aim of bringing the UK out of the EU we can be sure their business men members will be happy to continue to move capital around Europe and the rest of the world, even without being in the EU.
They will act like the businessmen who recently took over Cadbury's. This company, originally nurtured by philanthropic Quaker brothers, provided a model village for 300 workers. Now, production has moved to Poland. This is not unusual.
Many businesses have chosen to escape fair wage demands in the UK by moving their capital to counties where people work for less.
While it is not difficult to see the logic, nor the fact that such moves can help poorer countries develop, it is also easy to see the nasty side of UKIP thinking in that by withdrawing from the EU, UKIP supporters will still be able to move their money and the jobs associated with the businesses to other countries.
However their workers will not be able to follow the opportunities in the same way once the UK is withdrawn from the EU. Effectively many will become prisoners in an impoverished demograph, not happy workers in a model village. I worked abroad for 15 months, it has been a valuable lesson and it would be wrong to deny others that chance.
NICHOLAS HALES Uphill Drive Larkhall Bath
A swift rebuttal from Michael Stanley , Bath & North East Somerset Treasurer was published the following week, on 18th October
Your correspondent Nicholas Hales' recent letter shows a woeful ignorance of what UKIP is about. UKIP is dedicated to helping ordinary people achieve their aspirations and as part of that to support small businesses, whether they are run as co-operatives or not. We recognise the importance that these enterprises play in job creation and know they would flourish even more freed from the burden of excessive regulation and bureaucracy.
At a national level, to give one example, without EU interference, it is probable that the recent widely publicised new Thameslink train contract would have been won by Bombardier, not Siemens, and thus would have helped preserve and indeed create thousands of jobs.
I would urge Mr Hales to meet UKIP's B&NES committee so that he can gain a true insight into our beliefs. We are not extremist nor nasty in any way, shape or form.
MICHAEL STANLEY Treasurer, UKIP Bath & North East Somerset Committee Queen's Parade, Bath (Note both UKIP and Mr Stanley's Office within the branch were published)
A letter from Yeovil member Tony Turner published in the Western Daily Press on 15th October: Call to Pensioners to express their wrath
What a topsy turvy world we live in!
On the day we get Government bodies crowing that the Consumer Prices Index has fallen to 2.5% (RPI 2.9%) we are informed that Energy Prices are to soar- floods in the UK- drought in America- grain crop failures triggering more price rises.
It seems that Indices are kept low for this time as it is now that our State pensions are determined for April 2013.
All this without the real Pensioners Consumer prices Index readily available from the Office for National Statistics which for many years has outstripped by far those conveniently used to calculate our pensions.
It is time for all pensioners to express their wrath and rise up against the so-called three main Parties and vote UKIP- a Party which at least is wholly experienced in working for a living.
Tony Turner
102 Ilchester Road
Yeovil
Somerset BA21 3BN
SEPTEMBER
On 27th September, Harold James, Weston-super-Mare was on the attack in the Western Daily Press, writing of
The Liberal Democrats are retarding recovery. Whether or not the Conservatives could have done it alone is another question, given that the key persons in the Conservative Party - David and George - are about as effective as Bill and Ben.
Why didn't David Cameron invite Her Majesty to ask him to form a minority government? After all, she is the world's best statesman.
An attempt at consensus politics would have been pursued. It would have worked. For different reasons we have a 1939-1945 type of situation.
Before the 2010 Westminster elections, Nick Clegg was a nobody. David Cameron gave him credibility and has surrendered so much of government to what I can only regard as a grossly incompetent bunch of yellow-bellies.
Plight of NHS makes me queasy
A couple of weeks ago my wife and I were having a sandwich in our favourite cafe, Out to Lunch in Princes Street, Yeovil.
We struck up a conversation with a man sitting at the next table. I could not believe the story he told us. We asked him something about Yeovil, and he said he was not local but from Swansea. His wife is diabetic and went into labour in a Swansea hospital. Because of her condition an intensive care bed was needed: none were available in South Wales, so, in the middle of the night, an ambulance with a police escort brought her all the way to Yeovil, her husband following behind. Thankfully, mother and baby were fine.
What kind of NHS do we have that she had to travel not just into the next county but into another country to have her baby?
The Royal College of Surgeons says the NHS is in crisis, but we are about the highest-taxed country on the planet, so why should this be? Giving taxpayers' money to other countries around the world could have something to do with it, I think.
Our Government is spending millions of pounds building schools in Afghanistan while children in Britain are being taught in empty shops. I have little doubt that when our troops leave Afghanistan those schools won't be there very long.
David Cameron has made a legally-binding pledge to give £12 billion in foreign aid each year from now on. Why can't statements made in party manifestos be legally binding too? I seem to remember that before the last election David Cameron made a pledge if he became PM he would give the country a referendum on the EU.
On Saturday, September 29, at 2pm I will be at the Henhayes Centre in Crewkerne with Trevor Colman, South West MEP. He will be there to tell you anything you would like to know about the EU. I promise a very interesting afternoon.
