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UKIP leader pops by for a swipe at EU

7:54am Tuesday 29th April 2008

comment Comments (33)   Have your say »

By Avantika Bhargava »

LOCAL authorities should have more power to help their communities, according to the man at the helm of UKIP.

Nigel Farage popped into the borough yesterday to promote his party ahead of Thursday's local elections.

And he slammed the EU for fortnightly rubbish collections and the recent spate of post office closures.

Mr Farage, who was the guest speaker at a public meeting at the Nightingale Hotel in South Marston, said the UK was being excessively governed by EU directives.

He said: "This idea of fortnightly rubbish collections is appalling. It's all because of EU landfill rules. This thing about putting spy cameras in bins to make sure everything goes where it's supposed to be is just silly.

"I'm not against recycling at all but I am against the EU directing us on what we should and shouldn't do. I'm old enough to remember when we would get money back for bottles and everything was in brown paper bags.

"I think we did a better job 40 years ago than we are doing now.

"Regarding post offices, everyone's busy blaming each other and not really doing anything for the communities.

"I come from a village in Kent and I have seen what a huge difference closing post offices make and all this because of an EU directive.

"There's this talk about post offices not being profitable but how are they supposed to be if the profitable products are taken away?

"We're the only party that wants a debate and believe in the post offices and the services they offer. In Italy, they are giving post offices more business so they can stay open, so why can't they do that here?"

Mr Farage said it was wrong that 75 per cent of local authority funding comes from Westminster.

He said his party not only believed that taking orders from the EU was unnecessary but that there was too much power centrally.

He believed that if local authorities were allowed to collect tax and spend it on issues important to the area it would make a huge difference and communities would be better off.

Mr Farage also said UKIP would ensure there were more bobbies on the beat and that police chiefs should be elected locally.

And he had a simple message for voters in Swindon ahead of the elections.

He said: "I think people should vote for UKIP because we are against the EU controlling how we deal with issues that affect us.

"The three other parties are quite happy about this but we aren't.

"We've got three social democratic parties in Britain and you can't put a cigarette paper between them when it comes to how they deal with the main issues and that's why I think people will vote for us."

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Your Say YourSwindon

Oxford, Toothill says...
8:31am Tue 29 Apr 08

Oh no there's not an election on Thursday is there Robert Feal-Martinez? I must of taken the words out of your mouth! Well good luck to all those candidates standing.

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Oxford, Toothill says...
8:47am Tue 29 Apr 08

I do however believe the comments on recycling about 25 years ago or more, when milk bottles were recycled, money back on beer/lemonade bottles, sweets in jars and served in paper bags, along with other fruit and veg. Medication given in small bottles rather than plastic blister packs. Yes a far better system, although with some minor flaws. However, there needs to be more incentives to make people recycle now, like money back on cans and bottles (extra £1 or £2 on every beer/wine can/bottle etc), people would soon start to recycle then!

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LordBelacqua, Swindon says...
8:58am Tue 29 Apr 08

In-before-people-who
-never-went-to-the-m
eeting-lambast-Farag
e-for-daring-to-show
-himself!

Report this post »

Robert Feal-Martinez, Swindon says...
8:59am Tue 29 Apr 08

Oxford, I would say touche if it wasn't for the fact that I have never been critical of electioneering just the deceitful way some parties are conducting it. The drip feed of information, to the press, the appearance of reports etc, under the guise of public information. I flagged up Nigel was coming to Swindon quite openly over ten days ago. How many outside the 'political loop' knew about the Tories or the Labour people coming. Nigel addressed a public meeting answered questions and interacted with those present and I have to say, we ran out of membership forms and gave away nearly 100 videos on how the EU affects Local Politics and peoples lives. At least 5 people last night told me personally they would be joining UKIP, one was a live long Conservative voter, one a member of the Lib-Dems and the other 3 Labour voters, not a bad nights work. The truth is a simple reality the EU is destroying Britain, those who attended last nights meeting went away convinced.

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Oxford, Toothill says...
9:08am Tue 29 Apr 08

Well glad to hear you've had some success Robert, and good luck on Thursday.

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The builder, Old Town says...
9:13am Tue 29 Apr 08

Hmmm. The editor of this newspaper says he is not politically biased, however could he explain why the coverage of the UKIP leader is considerably better than that of the Conservative party leader ?


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Robert Feal-Martinez, Swindon says...
9:23am Tue 29 Apr 08

The builder, probably because the Adver got UKIP first hand. I don't think they were invited to interview Cameron, although I could be wrong. All I would say is the Labour BBC Radio Swindon declined to interview Nigel, political bias abounds, which is why there needs to be a better way.

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doug@homefarm, SN1 says...
9:24am Tue 29 Apr 08

The builder wrote:
Hmmm. The editor of this newspaper says he is not politically biased, however could he explain why the coverage of the UKIP leader is considerably better than that of the Conservative party leader ?
Quite simple, he had plenty of notice that the speaker was coming to Swindon and RFM probably sent him a press release on the main thrust of the meeting. That’s what I used to do when I put on public meetings for the CP

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LordBelacqua, Swindon says...
9:33am Tue 29 Apr 08

Morning Doug! Been very quiet from your end lately - how is/did the lambing go?

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doug@homefarm, SN1 says...
9:37am Tue 29 Apr 08

Hectic, a few losses lambs and ewes, but it seems it's a bad year for lambing, shepherds far more experienced than I have suffered greater losses this year than any other. Still all over now and thanks for asking!

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LordBelacqua, Swindon says...
9:41am Tue 29 Apr 08

Sorry to hear that - can't be very nice at all. Still, the worst is over now I assume?

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Robert Feal-Martinez, Swindon says...
9:44am Tue 29 Apr 08

Doug, forgive for asking what you may consider to be a stupid question, but I'm not a farming expert, would all the flooding and unsettled weather affect the situation.

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doug@homefarm, SN1 says...
9:49am Tue 29 Apr 08

Not a stupid question at all RFM but I just don't know. Apart from local farmers, I have spoken to shepherds in Wales Scotland and North Cotswolds and all are suffering the same problem>

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Donkey, Swindon says...
9:53am Tue 29 Apr 08

RFM ... are you sure about your statement?

"I would say is the Labour BBC Radio Swindon"

BBC Radio Swindon have often refused to take part in these visits and other political issues, like PO closures, even when invited.

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Donkey, Swindon says...
9:57am Tue 29 Apr 08

Doug ... sad about the animal problems up and down dale, but good to see you have come out the other end! (Not meant to be humorous.)

Incidentally, Bob's now gone into double figures with those defectors, as I am led to believe?

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doug@homefarm, SN1 says...
9:58am Tue 29 Apr 08

Morning Donkey, good point, I never found the local Radio receptive to these type of events, however they were always good for Industrial Action broadcast. I always got the impression they didn,t want to hang around in public for too long!

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doug@homefarm, SN1 says...
10:02am Tue 29 Apr 08

Ah well Donkey, the Labour Party has always had more than its fair share of Quislings, Prentice, Dr Death and the gang of four plus all the other to the SDP (what a blast of fresh air that was) and of course Dave Wren, to name but a few!

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steve-o, Swindon says...
10:08am Tue 29 Apr 08

Yeh god luck on thursday RFM , would'nt know tho if we even have UKIP in the Moredon ward.

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Robert Feal-Martinez, Swindon says...
10:12am Tue 29 Apr 08

Incidentally, Bob's now gone into double figures with those defectors, as I am led to believe?

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Robert Feal-Martinez, Swindon says...
10:15am Tue 29 Apr 08

You certainly do steve-o, she is Kathy Webb a long standing local resident. An excellent candidate and very astute lady. What you get from Kathy, is what you get from all our UKIP candidates is honesty and the truth.

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Captain Sensible, Near Swindon says...
10:20am Tue 29 Apr 08

Any body other than Labour and the Cons standing in Highworth?

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doug@homefarm, SN1 says...
10:39am Tue 29 Apr 08

Captain Sensible wrote:
Any body other than Labour and the Cons standing in Highworth?
Only Jenny Shorten for the Libs, that your lot!

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Terence, Swindon says...
10:51am Tue 29 Apr 08

RFM, you argue that the UKIP is not a single-issue party and that we should be able to choose those who wield our power, this led me to wonder what is the UKIP's stand on issues such as the possible reorganisation of our voting system (e.g. proportional representation to approach a more 'fair' representation of voter preference), also does the UKIP have any attitude toward the monarchy? I read something about Farage's decision not to stand in ovation for Prince Charles but perhaps this was more to do with Europe than monarchy?

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Peeved, Swindon says...
11:33am Tue 29 Apr 08

Robert Feal-Martinez wrote:
You certainly do steve-o, she is Kathy Webb a long standing local resident. An excellent candidate and very astute lady. What you get from Kathy, is what you get from all our UKIP candidates is honesty and the truth.
Like Ashley Mote MEP I assume!

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Robert Feal-Martinez, Swindon says...
11:51am Tue 29 Apr 08

Peeved I suggest you immediately apologise for your comments linking Kathy in ith Ashley Mote, this is libellous in the extreme and places the Advertiser in danger of action should Kathy wish to sue over the remark, Kathy does not engage on these threads and your comments are frankly despicable. Terence, had you been at the Public Meeting last night you would have had no reason to ask the question Nigel, I and UKIP are staunch supporters of the Monarchy as an Institution. You are right in your assumption about Prince Charles, this invitation was a cynical abuse of the Royal Family by the political elite. Prince Philip is known to be totally against the EU and whilst the Queen constitutionally can do little, she also, if given a choice, I am reliably informed from those in the know, would not sign the Royal Assent to Ratify the Treaty. Obviously PR would give a fairer say to the public, and would of course benefit UKIP.

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Peeved, Swindon says...
12:09pm Tue 29 Apr 08

No no Robert... I am led to believe that Kathy is way beyond reproach as far as honesty and integrity is concerned. I was merely replying to your comment "what you get from all our UKIP candidates is honesty and the truth." That is clearly not the case concerning Mr. Mote is it.

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Robert Feal-Martinez, Swindon says...
1:12pm Tue 29 Apr 08

Mote is not a candidate as you well know. It was a cheap shot, why not just accept it. To insult someone in that way, that I assume you've never met is undignified.

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Peeved, Swindon says...
1:33pm Tue 29 Apr 08

Ok... let me try again. My post was not directed at Kathy Webb. My post was directed at YOUR comment that stated "what you get from all our UKIP candidates is honesty and the truth." This has not always been the case has it? Clearly the point I am making is that ALL political parties have skeletons in their closets and no one party can ever claim to be whiter than white. There will always be certain elements in every party that will attempt to lie and deceive... this is an unfortunate fact of life. Feel free to pledge that NO member of UKIP will ever be convicted of any crime or misdemeanour again. If you can do that well enough to convince the electorate you should walk any election...!

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yeti, swindon says...
4:26pm Tue 29 Apr 08

i have decided that my vote will be for ukip.
i have thought long and hard about it and for me they are the only party standing min my borough i can bring myself to vote for.

labour and conservative have both let us down and spend too much time sbiping at each other.the lib dems are like wet farts who are too soft on everything.
so ukip gets my vote.they are far from perfect and its partly a protest vote on my part.but i hope they get some seats to balance things up a bit.

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malkym, says...
4:52pm Tue 29 Apr 08

doug@homefarm wrote:
Captain Sensible wrote: Any body other than Labour and the Cons standing in Highworth?
Only Jenny Shorten for the Libs, that your lot!
Dear old Jen she stands again, ready once more to battle, out amongst the folk of Highworth and surrounding fields of cattle.
She still believes in the idyll of Williams, Steele,Owen and co. She had a drink with Charlie - not so long ago! Perhaps a few discontented Labour feathers she may ruffle, lets hope it doesn't descend into a third recount kerfuffle!! Voters of Highworth come out! vote who you like buts let's give Gord a message - go take a ride on Tebbit's bike!

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Robert Feal-Martinez, Swindon says...
7:46pm Tue 29 Apr 08

Yeti, I sincerely welcome your post. It is and always has been my wish that people decide for themselves, I am aware we have had our 'spats' and I am sure we will in the future, but that is called Freedom of Speech and Democracy. I was also approached today by a chap who has always voted Labour who is disgusted with the way they are behaving. He has a postal vote and has already cast it for our candidate in Abbey Meads. The tide is turning UKIP may not win any seats in Swindon but with talk of councillors moving across to UKIP, and the general feeling of the peoples of Swindon and the wider UK feeling disillusioned voting UKIP is not a wasted vote. I look forward to answering peoples questions tomorrow.

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amlorusso, Swindon says...
2:15am Wed 30 Apr 08

RFM,

I look forward to you answering peoples questions today. Peeved's comment was a fair one - you put out a blanket assertion of the honesty of UKIP's candidates, when one of your MEP's was convicted of fraud, and he even tried to hide from prosection behind European Institutions. The fact he isn't UKIP anymore is not relevant. Hiding behind the word 'candidate' is the kind of spin your party accuses labour of on a regular basis.

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Robert Feal-Martinez, Swindon says...
6:30am Wed 30 Apr 08

amlorusso, you are entitled to your view. I do not hide behind words, Peeved's attack wa meant in the manner it was construed, an attack on a candidate that he doesn't know.That is gutter politics. The references I made were to our group in Swindon. No one denies there are bad apples, they exist in every party and in every walk of life. It is right and proper these people are exposed, not is right is unfounded innuendo.

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UKIP leader Nigel Farage, left, with UKIP candidate Robert Feal- Martinez at the Nightingale Hotel in South Marston UKIP leader Nigel Farage, left, with UKIP candidate Robert Feal- Martinez at the Nightingale Hotel in South Marston

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