THE up-coming local and general elections are going to be one of the busiest ever. There is no guarantee as to how many people will vote but there does seem to be a fascinating number and variety of people standing at both local and national level.
The most fascinating ward is Aveley where we understand that Tory Councillor Wendy Herd will be defending her seat against Labour, Lib Dem, BNP , UKIP and former Tory Mayor, Colin Churchman, who will be standing as an Independent.
On saturday, we caught up with UKIP candidate, Tim Aker. The following interview with Tim was a tour de force through a whole gamut of political issues.
Since graduating from Nottingham Univ with an honours degree in politics, Tim has been immersed in the political scene. He worked for the Taxpayers Alliance for a number of years and now works as a political assistant for MEP David Campbell-Bannerman.
Tim may well be the future of UKIP, bringing it into the mainstream. Have a look and listen to what he says. There may well be a lot that people relate to.
If UKIP supporters want to achieve their leader’s preferred scenario of a hung parliament, they can increase it’s likelihood by voting Labour in Thurrock to block a Tory Commons majority, but voting Tory further up the target list in Sth Basildon/E Thurrock to block another Labour majority.
Hung Parliament!!! now that would be the best thing to do with those crooks that are currently in the Commons, anyone got a spare set of gallows 🙂
UKIP will play a big part in the forthcoming elections especially locally where I believe Mr Clive Broad has a lot of local support.
UKIP have no expenses scandel behind them unlike the other 3 main parties.
I think Mr Broad could pull off a huge suprise and I hope he does.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article7086827.ece
Dodgy donations and sleaze – no better than the other parties.
ukip in the borough..thinking about…interesting….oh hang on a minute, isnt their policy on waste to landfill it ??? omg where would it go? sorry didn’t quite hear tim oh ok in aveley 🙁
skip ukip !
I think theor policy of scrapping free bus passes will go down well with the 20,000 pensioners and disabled people in Thurrock. Odd that doesn’t appear in their leaflets!
I wasn’t expecting so many comments to my post. But here goes:
Hugh – people should vote for what they believe in, not to use it to keep people out. But then again, it’s your vote.
Lambo – we need a clean sweep in parliament. The ‘safe seat’ mentality meant MPs could do whatever they like knowing their seat was safe and they’d be easily returned.
Dingle – Lord Pearson stressed in the article that if there was any doubt about the rules, UKIP would rather go without the donation. We rely on small, voluntary contributions unlike the Tories (Ashcroft) or Labour (Unions) or Liberal Democrats (Michael Brown, the convicted fraudster’s £2.4m).
Susan – The landfill tax encourages fly tipping. If you had watched my video I say there should be more inventive ways to encourage recycling and waste disposal.
Dingle – UKIP is committed to giving the councils the choice over funding free bus passes. Currently, the bus passes are funded by central government grants. These grants are being reduced and means council tax has to increase to fund the shortfalls. So, council tax increases for pensioners as a result, and I’m sure you’re not advocating higher council tax for Thurrock, are you? Thurrock UKIP will easily fund bus passes, the Tilbury Ferry and scrap the Dartford Toll by stopping council subscriptions to the East of England Assembly, the LGA, UDC and other Quangos.
Tim – your MEP was trying to break the law – no amount of spin will hide the fact your party is just as sleazy as the Tories, Labour or LibDems. Where is Tome Wise these days?
The East of England Regional Assembly was scrapped on the 1st April so I have no idea how you plan to save money on something that no longer exists?
The Government has announced plans to scrap the TTGDC so again I have no idea how you are going to either save money or divert money for other projects? Thurrock Council does not pay any ‘subscription’ to the TTGDC. The TTGDC get their funding from the Government, EEADA grant and planning fees.
If you want to be taken seriously as a political party perhaps you can list the subscriptions Thurrock Council pays to the EERA, LGA, UDC and other quangos and how much it would cost to fully fund free bus passes for pensioners and disabled in Thurrock and to fully fund the tilbury ferry.
Of course you would have fully costed your election pledges – you wouldnt dare just utter soundbites to get votes without actually costing your claims first?
Any political party wanting to be taken seriously should be able to robustly defend their pledges and promises and be able to prove they are fully costed.
Tim I will be kind and perhaps mention that Thurrock Council pays no subscriptions to EERA, EEDA and TTGDC. So where will your cash come from to pay for free bus passes and tilbury ferry?
You mentioned above ” Thurrock UKIP will easily fund bus passes, the Tilbury Ferry and scrap the Dartford Toll by stopping council subscriptions to the East of England Assembly, the LGA, UDC and other Quangos.”
As the East of England Regional Assembly (EEARA) was scrapped on 1st April and Thurrock Council paid them no subscription, the TTGDC is going to be scrapped and Thurrock Council pays no subscription.
Thurrock Council does pay (I think) £40,000 to the Local Government Association.
So how much does it cost to fully fund free bus passes and the tilbury ferry and how will you fund this from the £40,000 subscription to the LGA?