Scotland's New Party

Created wholly out of the swelling disillusionment with the Governents' Energy Policies, a new anti wind turbine party has appeared on scene.

Of course it raises the anti wind profile, but it doesn't raise the chances of success for two good reasons - splits any real anti-wind vote away from UKIP, and, like the established incumbents, ignores the fact that the driver is the EU, to which they all kow tow.

The real threat to the complacency of those in power will come from UKIP when all anti-wind activists vote for us (secretly if they wish). 

Which party has a policy to scrap DECC?

Which party has a policy to Repeal the Act? 

Which party will STOP subsidies, not simply switch the revenue source? 
 

Scotland - aspire!

A better Britain, really sovereign, true Independence, not the pretendy independence farce of SNP separatism

 

Take a look  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZ0nxtmrZDQ

Trident

We must Keep Trident.

 

At least the Prime Minister has got that right: Every political party worth Britain's salt must support a sovereign, invulnerable, certain, British nuclear deterrent. Half measures, such as cruise missiles, will not suffice.

This is a policy that accords fully with the United Kingdom being fully sovereign and indendent.

Date to Stop Salmond's Nonsense - 18 September 2014

Mike Scott-Hayward, Chairman of UKIP Scotland, has welcomed the announcement of a date for the referendum on what he calls Alex Salmond's motion to break up the UK, saying that it is time to put a stop to that nonsense.

"We now have a date for the day on which the SNP want to break up the UK, and to cede Scotland to Brussels. The date set, the 18th September, is the day on which Scotland will decide whether or not to give way to the separatists.

"UKIP will work to keep Britain United - we are better together and I can reveal that I have indicated our support to the Better Together campaign - in fact, I'd like Alastair Darling, who is heading it up, to address a UKIP gathering next month.

"It is important that we keep the United Kingdom and UKIP agrees that much with the parties in the Scottish Parliament who want that. As things are going, we are often ahead of the Lib Dems now, we may soon see UKIP sitting in that parliament. So it is time for Better Together to accept our support, though we do want more for the UK than they do - as we want sovereignty for the UK, freedom from Brussels. But fighting together for the integrity of the Uk will now come first; in the longer term we will get the chance to address the other big question - the EU.

"In the meantime, UKIP repeats its support of Better Together. We are gaining in influence and it would be best for us all that we are seen standing with Better Together - we will be."

Good news, but for too many?

I give a cautious welcome to the Chancellor's Help to Buy scheme.  
This is really good news for our younger people in particular, to get into the all important housing market. It is a good use of British taxpayers' money - helping our young to get a well founded start.

But I do have a concern. With UKIP, such a scheme would be for British subjects and not generally for EU citizens who are not British.  

The government must clarify this,  as UKIP thinks the intention may fall foul of EU law - as so much does and will do, until we get out of the EU.

So, George, what is the test and how does this sit with EU law and rules? Could any EU citizen apply?

The SNP - they smack more and more of a directed state - diktat by document. 

Not only do the SNP not wish real independence for the state, the UK or Scotland, seeking  submission to the bureaucracy of the EU, their vision is also not about independence for the invidual.

 Three words -control, control, control.

UKIP ORKNEY and UKIP BLACK ISLE now underway.

Set off early on Friday to pick up Peter Adams, then on to meet Ross Durrance near the Black Isle. Enterprising trio then pushed on to Gills Bay to catch the Pentland Ferry with minutes to spare.

Great visit. Into Kirkwall where I went for an interview with The Orcadian whilst Peter and Ross set up in the Orkney Hotel. Our meeting started at 7.30 pm. I got one lapsed/forgetful member to renew at the outset and Peter handed out application forms to new supporters.

After fi...elding questions and at bit of pushing, saying I would not be content until we had a new branch, six of the delightful Orcadians there present agreed, with Paul Dawson taking the chairmanship. Delia Hall was effusive and enthusiastic and becomes the Teasurer and Secretary. Well to the fore was Robert Smith, our candidate at the last elections.

Next morning, after some happy post-meeting wassailing, Paul popped over and reported he had already recruited an additional new member! Happy, Peter, Ross and I set of for the return ferry, via a visit to the Italian POW Camp Chapel. Wonderful place.

And so to the Waterfront in Inverness where we had a good albeit rapidly convened UKIP meeting. I left encouraged by the enthusiasm exhibited and braced myself for the fast drive back to the Black Isle. Ross was at the wheel!

Ross chaired a meeting of our Highland reps, mostly addressing plans for our forthcoming Highland Event. Watch this space for more on that.

After the main business, I set to, gleaning that there were enough members present to form a committee for another new branch to be based on The Black Isle. I went on to suggest that the key players, Iain, Phillip and Ron, that they might like to start regular pub meetings.

We stayed overnight with Phillip and Christine, and I was delighted over breakfast to hear Phillip discussing which pub the new branch night adopt! Quick work. The beer must be good!

When I have my breath back, I will set of on another trip and hope to report the establishment of more new UKIP branches across Scotland. After all, the polls tell me that 8% at least Scots support UKIP - all I have to do is find them! All!See more

UKIP spearhead in Scotland - now at 9%!

Nigel Farge is front page news in The Herald -

http://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/referendum-news/farage-independence-dead-in-the-water.20285722?utm_source=headlines&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=email%2Balert

UKIP Scotland is progressing steadily.  Some media outlets are still a bit shy of us, but the more astute media folk have begun to notice that significant numbers of Scots are following and supporting us.  

I am off to Kirkwall and the Black Isle this weekend - and I hope to bag a couple of new branches.  Across Scotland, we have had an increase of 30% in membership - signed up subscribing members - since October.

Watch the Social Media - if the conventional press can't keep up, you can follow blogs etc.

Read our policies on the UKIP website - it's easy - google UKIP.

Now is the time to join UKIP

UKIP in Scotland is growing behind the scenes.  We are planning to form new branches and I urge people who have thought about it to start acting - the time to join UKIP is now.

Nigel Farage has been on STV again and this will awaken the printed media; they have ignored us for too long.    They cannot ignore our growing support - up to at least 8% now.

Hat's off to STV for opening up democracy - it is not for the chatteratti to decide who gets publicity. 
The role of reporters is to report, not to pontificate!

UKIP will breakthrough in Scotland at the next European elections. That is because we know that people want to escape from the EU, not from the UK.

EU OIL GRAB - UK/SCOTLAND BEWARE!

IMMEDIATE

Not only the SNP but the whole Scottish Nation has to wake up to the realities of sovereignty.

Mr Salmond wants out of the UK and into the EU - Amendment 63 to the Fisheries' Policy should wake him up. It is a the clear intention of the EU body politic to take full central control of, basically, everything. Here that foreign collective bureaucracy wants to sneak in central sovereign control of our sea bed - UK or Scottish, whatever the result of the Scottish Referendum

That means the EU is staging a oil grab - and a lot more.

Scotland ; wake up! We need a United Kingdom that has wrestled itself free from the central control of the EU body politic. There is no such thing as Independence in the EU, Alex. And the UK itself is in the same trap. We most certainly would be Better Together and Better of Out - and UKIP alone, it seems, offers that."

NOTES

---

EU threatens Essential Sovereignty:

Time for that Referendum Dave?

Hidden in an amendment within a huge report on the EU’s Common Fisheries policy, UKIP has discovered an attempt by Brussels to seize control of the UK seabed, owned by the UK Crown: A power grab that should trigger a UK Referendum.

The vast majority of the mineral rich seabed, inside the 12 mile limit of British Territorial Waters, is Crown Estate, or property of the Crown and the Duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall.

Yet Amendment 63 would permit the EU to claim ownership via a direct power grab, without any consultation or prior approval from British people, the British Parliament or the Queen.

Under David Cameron’s “Referendum Lock” this should be subject to a direct appeal to British voters.

Speaking in the debate in Strasbourg this morning, Stuart Agnew MEP, the UKIP fisheries spokesman, said of the amendment, tabled by a Spanish MEPs,

"The British people, Parliament and Her Majesty the Queen will also be alarmed to discover that Amendment 63 would create a new power without a word of objection by Her Majesty's Government or the Tories.

“That power is sovereignty over the seabed as opposed to merely controlling the fish in the water above it. Any new power must mean a UK referendum.

“Therefore if this amendment is carried it must be the subject of a UK referendum under Mr Cameron's ‘referendum lock’.”

Later Mr Agnew said, “If this legislation is passed, then Cameron is duty bound to give us that vote under his own law”.

Notes

Statement by David Cameron, 25/5/2010

“My Government will introduce legislation to ensure that in future this Parliament and the British people have their say on any proposed transfer of powers to the European Union.”

The amendment

Amendment 63

Proposal for a regulation

Part I – Article 5 –indent 1

Text proposed by the Commission	Amendment
– ‘Union waters’ means the waters under the sovereignty or jurisdiction of the Member States with the exception of the waters adjacent to the territories listed in Annex II to the Treaty;	– ‘Union waters’ means the waters and the seabed under the sovereignty or jurisdiction of the Member States with the exception of those adjacent to the territories listed in Annex II to the Treaty;

Justification

In order to include sessile species.

Video of Speech by Stuart Agnew

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9ELeQM4Tq0--

Gawain Towler
Press Officer
EFD Group in the European Parliament
UK Independence Party

Tel: +44 (0)207 2229365

GSM: +44 (0) 7879339509
Skype: gawain.towler1

http://www.efdgroup.eu/
http://www.ukip.org
http://englandexpects.blogspot.com/
www.twitter.com/gawain.towler1

Cameron is buying time

Cameron is buying time to get the Tories beyond the next General Election, on grounds that UKIP has shown him are those the public wish to address. His confusion, as Salmond rightly says, is that at heart he still agrees with Nick and wants to stay in the EU.
 
He must also know that negotiating will lead nowhere - he can never hope to get a final settlement; that is not the way the EU works. But his gloss will work for many top Tories who want also need to sneak past the next ballot box. Even Boris is putting on a show of support - that is my big disappointment today - and so we can all expect a review of policy by the Tories if they ever get back in and get to sit at the negotiating table with the EU bureaucracy. They will say they tried thier best!
 
As Salmond says, they are doing the two horse thing. But so is he! Salmond talks about Scottish Independence as if he means that the Scots will govern Scotland. His other horse is the "in Europe" bit - the confusion he is palming off on the Scots is to pretend that there is such a thing as "independence in Europe". There is not. How can any nation state, the UK or, if Salmond gets a positive vote, even Scotland, call itself sovereign when a foreign collective makes 80% of its laws?
 
Scotland needs to be out of the EU as much as does the UK as a whole - and the best way to achieve that is to remain United and to have an in/out EU vote. The chattering political class is truly confused - Cameron's EU option is an attempt at selling a dummy, and from Salmond a wee pretendy independence option for Scotland alone.
 
Clearly, the hopping about by Cameron, Milliband's closing the door on EU debate, Nick not letting anyone have an EU referendum now, and Salmond's play on the use of the word "independence" means more people will turn to UKIP in Scotland; our numbers have come up by 25% in the last three months because, I believe, UKIP offers what the British want - a sovereign United Kingdom freed from the EU political machine.

Cameron's Fiddle's fizz will fade...

I predict that Cameron's Fiddle will be like an old Gordon Brown Budget - full of fizz on presentation day - and the worms revealed in the ensuing weeks. 

He can spin the Tory backbench, and the pro-EU media, but the reality of EU bureaucratic traps will kick in soon enough. 

The only way is the UKIP way - OUT OF THE EU.

UKIP should give the turned-back Tories an amnesty deadline - we will still accept them into UKIP provided they join before Valentien's Day!!

In The Scotsman 10 January 2013

Ukip is on rise

Published on Thursday 10 January 2013 00:00

Allan Massie’s article on Ukip (Perspective, 9 January) puts me in mind of a tongue-in-cheek saying we used in the Royal Artillery: artillery adds dignity to what would otherwise be a vulgar brawl. He has, in a poor attempt to resurrect Tory confidence, descended to vulgar brawling.

Little surprise that he uses soft innuendo, as did David Cameron, in trying to slur without having the guts to be direct. Of course, that is necessary as he and Cameron need to avoid defamation in this day and age.
Anyway, Massie might like to know that he is right that we appeal to a wide range of people – his mixed bag – and I do not 
regard that range of backgrounds as something to deride.
We have many former Tories, some classy and some not, a host of former Liberals/Liberal Democrats, many former Labour supporters, and just a week ago I was surprised to learn that a still paid-up member of the SNP has been secretly voting for Ukip.
Our membership across the UK has risen dramatically in the last quarter, and even in Scotland we are seeing a surge. Yes, Massie, we are still quite small in terms of paid-up members, but we have seen a significant increase in Scotland since October.
Massie is right to note that our rise in the popular vote, as seen in polls, is more dramatic – in February 2012 we had to be pleased with 2 per cent; that latest figure in Scotland is about 8 per cent and we have at times topped the Lib Dems in Scotland, not just in the UK as a whole.
In north-west England, by the way, Ukip has even topped the Tories.
So Mr Massie has good cause to scrape the barrel for insults in defence of the currently empowered political class. His article is a bit transparent; he ought to withdraw his nasty comments.
Meantime, Ukip will continue to add dignity and common sense to the brawl by deploying policies fit for an independent sovereign United Kingdom, and welcomes further recruits and converts from all backgrounds to that cause.
Mike Scott-Hayward
UKIP Scotland
Kemback Bridge
Fife

UK Success - how?

We need two things in order to give Britain her best chances for a propserous and certain long term future.

Firstly, we need British unity with England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland standing together: So we need to dismiss Alex Salmond's Little Scotlander dreams of becoming a directly subservient region of Europe. His promises are a sham - he has not promised sovereignty, only " Indepedence in Europe."

Secondly, we do need sovereignty - real sovereignty - the British Parliament, subject to the will only of the British People, being the sole arbiters of our fate. Thatis the Independence goal which we must grasp.

UKIP is the only party that espouses these twin aims. An Independent United Kingdom. Little wonder that our membership is growing.

UKIP is turning the screw on the complacent governing elite.

A little anecdote for you all on lobbying methodology whilst the topic is in the air.

Demonstrations work, and I advocate regularity, e.g. a frequent demo at the Council and outside the MP and MSP surgeries, whenever they have them. As well as the bigger events.

But my anecdote relates to subtle political pressure: the ruling class is now very aware of the surge in membership and rise in popularity of UKIP, and are on watch to see that they are not outflanked by us. Is that so, you say? How does Mike know this?

Well, a few weeks ago I published a Press Release to the effect that UKIP will monitor cases for fraud etc. The Press ignored this but I published it on FB and Blogger, but I have since had several direct approaches by people suffering the blight of turbines, and at a loss as to what to do. They have all asked their elected representatives for help, and to little avail. So they called me, having found me via FB, my blog etc.

I am no expert, but have political experience and am now in the process of advising them - still to get round them all, some far afield, but I will do it. 

Now, here's the rub: I advised one caller, amongst other things, to write to a party leader specifically outlining the mix of horrors suffered and the lack of help received from the elected.  I also advised that the point should be made that UKIP had been approached - i.e. I was cc'd into the email to the said party leader. The point was to rattle a cage. Politics, you see. I also arranged to call to discuss the case.

Last week, I was able to visit as promised and on arrival was surprised to see another caller already there, discussing the case. The woman visitor concerned seemed a bit embarrassed when we were introduced, and she left without further ado. 

So what?

Well, it transpired that the visitor was an elected local councillor, and had revealed that she was calling on behalf of the said party leader and on behalf of the party's local MSP as well.  There is no doubt in my mind that the sudden and immediate attention, where previously there had been lethargy, was clearly a direct result of UKIP involvement and a party attempt to defend their indefensible policies and to cover their flank.

Get it right in 2013.............

Hi Folks
Please do think about this - I would say that if UKIP has the policy you want - e.g. to repeal the Climate Change Act - you should stress that time and time again.  

If you really want to put pressure on the Goverrnment, to rattle those cages, then bite the bullet and join UKIP and vote for us across the country - what can be wrong with voting for what you want, rather than for old loyalties - loyalties that are one way streets - loyalty expected from you by parties that have the wrong policies but implore you to stick with them?

Smell the coffee and make a sensible New Year's  Resolution to start playing "real politics".   You must have toyed with the idea - now do it.


Merry Christmas

Unbelievable entertainment...

Settle down with a glas of port and some mince pies and watch a bit of this: http://www.theyletyoudown.com/

Warming?

Spectator view is very interesting: http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/2012/12/the-big-green-rent-seeking-machine/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-big-green-rent-seeking-machine

Unforeseen consequences...

This is a significant issue. The Open Door to EU  Immigration policy has yet another consequence - what happnes to the children if the parents go back home?

 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2244297/UKIP-fostering-scandal-Its-social-workers-racist-say-Slovak-parents.html

MOD news - take leave or don't come in.............

Should the Duke of Cambridge park his helo at home?

I would like to extend an invitation to any remaining Conservative supporters

A few days have now passed since UKIP's great performances in the English and Welsh Police Commissioners elections and in three Parliamentary by-elections.


We came second in two by-elections and third in two Police Commissioner elections. In Durham, we seem to be replacing the Tory party. We also beat them in Middlesbrough and trounced them in the Police elections where we had more activists at the count than they could muster.

I would like to extend an invitation to any remaining Conservative supporters and voters in Scotland, who may still believe in the freedom and independence of the United Kingdom, to join UKIP now. You will be very welcome.

I also extend this invitation to traditional Labour voters who believe in their country and in the social mobility that we espouse and which Labour's Islington set decry.

Moreover, I know that some Liberal Democrats, indeed some in office who have spoken to me in private, feel that the EU is getting to big for its boots. Liberal Democrat leaders sold out on many policies for the sake of power - and they used to want us to think they are a party of principles. They have proven they are a party of first principles - that is, putting the party and themselves first, not you nor the country."

Is democracy losing the battle in the EU?

Can you ignore this?

How can you ignore what the Eu and Common Purpose is doing?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8uBxgoLl-s&feature=g-all

Salmond wants to many dictatorial powers.....

Scotsman: Westminster blocks Holyrood plan for random breath tests. Scott-Hayward: Good, we don't need a police state in Scotland. Rule Britannia.

Rotherham

So how come a Council Social Work Department knows to which political party someone belongs?

Question for Baroness Verma

Do padded cells have smart meters?

Calling Alex Salmond.........

Angela Merkel reportedly told the European Parliament, just before heading of to chat to Coalition Dave in Downing Street, “Of course the European Commission will one day become a government, the European Council a second chamber and the European Parliament will have more powers – but for now we have to focus on the euro and give people a little more time to come along."

Now, the First Minister and his separatist bedfellows should ponder hard on what their Independence in Europe really means. Alex Salmond need not ask any lawyers - just ask Angela.

The solution, of course, is independence - for the UK out of the EU.

Has anyone seen if the UKIP press release re Wind fraud etc (previous post) has appeared in any newspaper? I have seen none. But we get front page stories by MSPs whp prtest too much - ie protest yet still suppoprt the government that subsidizes. Is Lord MacAlpine the only one who thinks the media are biased?

Are the press afraid of losing governement and council advertisng funding, perhaps?

UKIP SCOTLAND WILL REPORT WIND FRAUD TO POLICE

UKIP SCOTLAND WILL REPORT WIND FRAUD TO POLICE

The Leader and the Chairman of UKIP Scotland have announced that it is UKIP's intention to monitor fraudulant claims made by energy companies advancing plans for the erection and operation of wind turbines.

"We will do this and UKIP will report instances of any breach of the Fraud Act 2006, Chapter 35, Section 2, to the Police and UKIP will expect investigation and prosecution to follow, " Lord Monckton explained.

He had, as the Leader of UKIP Scotland, attended a private lunch hosted by UKIP Scotland's Chairman, Mike Scott-Hayward. They later visited the site of the wind farm at Little Raith, near Mossmoran, in Fife.
"This site is a good example of two big issues," said Mike Scott-Hayward.

"First, it shows two technologies in juxtaposition - one which represents a high energy density capacity industry, and the other, the wind farm, a low density energy system.

"It is becoming obvious now to even the most uninformed, people like many of our MSPs, that vast expanses of Scotland will need to be lost to wind farms in order to attempt to produce energy anywhere near the scale available form nuclear, oil, gas and coal. Wind is a wasteful, expense resource.

"Both technologies, secondly, do have a landscape impact - but again the contrast in how much land and the scale of the impact is marked. UKIP would scrap wind subsidies, repeal the Climate Change Act and abolish the Department of Energy and Climate Change. We can't go on with this wind energy stupidity."

Lord Christopher Monckton has been criss-crossing the globe challenging global warming orthodoxy. He is an expert on climate change science and policy. He said "My point regarding the Fraud Act is that it is against the law for energy companies or developers to misrepresent the facts in order to make a gain. They frequently falsely claim benefits arise from wind when they do not. Especially, they often make unqualified claims that wind farms will for example, provide power for several thousand houses. The implication is that will be for every hour of every day of the year - it is a blatant fraud, and thatb is a criminal act under the Fraud Act. We will expect the police to prosecute fraud."

Trying to take the wind from UKIP sails, Ruth?

The Tories are rattled - they know about and are reacting to the anti-wind demo held in Perth. They want to be sweet to the anti wind lobby, just as does Straun Stevenson MEP.  But they cannot hide the fact that Coalitionist Cameron leads the government that pays the subsidies.  The Tories have a choice - UKIP, which has a policy to repeal the Climate Change Act, abolish wind energy subsidies and scrap DECC.

Sea Change - too slow - take five easy steps now.

The vote was a good call, and the media does need to take notice of the real sea change,  but a far more effective measure would be for the dissenting Tories to take five simple steps to put it all right. 

They simply need to take five steps across the floor, become UKIP MPs and bring real infleunce to the House.

Tory Wind Bluff and Bluster

UKIP Scotland Chairman has dismissed a Tory ploy to hide the fact that the Coalition Government is behind funding the surge in wind farms.

"The Tories have now got everyone bothered about the costs of the planning system and about planning authorities being overwhelmed bybturbine applications.

 

"Yes, it is a waste, but let's get back to the real issue - the economic waste of useless turbines, and the desecration of our landscape. The cost of all the wind energy policies far outweighs the cost of the planning burden on councils, and the Tory politicians have cunningly got away from explaining why their party doesn't  scrap the subsidies and stop the whole nonsense.

 

"It's a red herring.

 

"Liz Smith MSP says 'It is extremely worrying that so many of these local authorities are unable to outline to overall financial cost of this.'

"So, can the Coalition Government outline the full costs of what all the subsidies will amount to over the full life of their schemes?  And how much of the country will be covered by wind farms?

 

"The Conservatives can't see the economic wood for the turbines"

The EU's British Subjects need to wake up to political realities..

News from The Associated Press

hosted.ap.org

BERLIN (AP) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel endorsed a proposal for a top European Union official to be given the power to veto member governments' budgets, and suggested Thursday that the bloc could set up a new fund

Edinburgh Agreement on a Scottish Referendum:

UKIP stands four square behind the unity of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

We also firmly believe in the right of the British everywhere to be the final arbiters over their own lives.

That is why we support and would introduce binding (Swiss-style) referenda on vital issues.

That is why we believe it is as much the right of the Scottish nation to determine whether or not Scotland remains an integral part of the United Kingdom, as it is the right of the British people to determine if the UK should remain in the EU.

Our view on those two crucial issues is well known but we will repeat them and fight for them until we achieve what we believe the British people want – the continued integrity of the UK, and full British sovereignty.

So we support the Better Together campaign – we dismiss the SNP 's "wee pretendy Independence" ideas – and we want a referendum to take the whole of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland OUT of the EU to achieve full British sovereignty and true UK Independence.

Vote NO to stop any British break up – and campaign for true British sovereignty thereafter.

Meercats could do it better than Alec

The incompetence of the SNP/Coalition/Brussels Wind Energy policy is horrifying. It lacks common sense and it seems, it also contravenes the Aarhus Convention.

Alec Salmond's pontifications certainly indicate that a so -called independent Scotland would be at risk under the the SNP.   And it is after all only wee pretendy independence anyway - Alex Salmond wants to be in the European Union - nothing independent or sovereign about that!

Once again, I must commend UKIP policy - real independence - sovereignty - for Team GB as a whole; and no wind power - no subsidies, no ROCs, no FITS, no laying the burden on the poorest, cessation of turbines spoiling our landscape. Simples, as the meercat says.

British Sovereignty? My foot.

According to the Daily Telegraph, Alan Duncan, the minister of state for aid, said the Department for International Development (DfID) was “forced to give” British taxpayers’ money to the EU and was powerless over how it was spent.

The charge will raise tensions within the Conservative party because it touches on two of the areas where the Tory Right is most concerned about David Cameron’s policies - foreign aid and Europe.

Brussels insists it does not “impose” its choice of aid projects on Britain but - in an escalation of hostilities - a senior Conservative separately accused the EU of lying. “If you want an EU lie, this is a classic one,” said the senior Tory. “It is a 100 per cent lie. We have been arguing with the EU whenever we can that the money should have a poverty focus.”

So why does Mr Duncan stick it out in the coalition, as subservient to Brussels as Cameron and Clegg?

We have lost our sovereignty because our MPs have lost their moral fibre..

How effective is UKIP?

Could there be a UKIP led political revolution?  

It is entirely possible.

Certainly, UKIP inspired change is on the way. 

The EU's control over us is the bigger part leading to this change - but the wind energy debate is well to the fore.  

The latest YouGov polls show UKIP are now the third most popular party in the UK and in Scotland the poll shows a spectacular change

Scottish Results

Conservative 17% (-2%)
Labour 40% (-1%)
LibDem 4% no change
UKIP 8% (+4%)
SNP 28% (-5%)
Green 1% (-1%)
BNP 2% (+1%)

UKIPScotland is now level pegging with the LibDems in Scotland. The coalition Government will be wide awake to these changes - and worried. The way to stop the Coalition from ignoring popular will is to support UKIP, joining us, voting for us, working with us.

EU QUESTION TIME

It is a very sad fact that the bulk of legislation under which we live in the United Kingdom arises in the EU.   Most of us know that Brussels is behind the bulk of stupid Health and Safety restrictions and other restrictive laws.

The EU would have us believe this is all done only after the Council of Ministers, which includes the Prime Minister, has give an indication of the direction which new EU law should go.

Well, if he is party to those shenanigans, he has to explain why he let's the UK down so often when behind closed doors with his fellow EU so called Heads of Government

In Britain, the place where the Government can be questioned, indeed, should be questioned, is Westminster.

MPs should demand that the Prime Minister hold Prime Minister's EU Questions every week of his life. It affects every week of ours.

Leave the EU? Can we? Can't we?

Too many intellectuals and politicians who think of themselves as such, think too much, talk too much, write too much and can't see the wood for the trees.


Stop paying cheques to the EU, keep the shopkeepers doors open for trade, carry on being British and rejoice.

It can't go on like this...............

Think very carefully before you vote next time.




It’s UKIP or it'll be UK RIP.

Media Blocks

Pleased to see that Alan Cochrane, writing in Scottish Field,  has taken up the issue of councillors being gagged.

Hurrah! I have been banging on about that for years - and even sent fruitlessly to the media - including the DT.

Ex Cllr Arbuckle used to say nice supportive things when I railed on over the issue in meetings of the Council, and he has since gone to his pet press and published as a journalist on the issue too.  Ironic, as his party was probably the driver for the gagging clause.

Annoying thing is that UKIP policy would put paid to the stupidity but the media seem to have a mental block when they see the letters UKIP - pavlovian beasts, they assume we are a one issue party.

Why don't they read of policies?

Make MSPs take the decison! Or give us binding referenda.

The most destructive planning phenomena we now face in Scotland is the resort to appeals when an elected council rejects a wind farm application.

Some Reporters may uphold the refusals decided democratically but that is not always the case. Communities face division and destruction of amenity as a result.

MSPs who have signed up the Scottish Parliament's pro wind policies and diktats, and whose parties all back subsidies and DECC line to the hilt, sit smugly away from the realities. I have yet to see or hear of my local MSP, for example, going to a community council meeting discussing wind issues, to see the effect of these policies on the community's constituents.

Whilst UKIP policy is that planning appeals would not be taken "out of county" by unelected officers but be decided by binding local referenda amongst the concerned communities/planning area, such trust of the electorate is an anathema to the other parties. It won't happen until UKIP has sufficient elected power in Westminster and Holyrood - on a par with our now being the second largest British party in the European Parliament.

Meantime, why do we have MSPs? Is it their role to sit smugly and aloof in Holyrood, and not carry the buck for what the laws they passed?

I say make them all, sitting in committee of the whole house, decide all wind farm appeals, with their votes recorded, so that we may know them for what they earn.

Mike Scott-Hayward
Chairman UKIP Scotland

Dumb Wind Politics

The views just expressed by Cllr Alex Rowley, Leader of Fife Council, that Fife is not to be closed to wind farms, shows the value to his party of the deft use of a call for a moratorium. It was never a policy to stop wind farms. But it gained him power, with the support of the Conservatives.

Only UKIP stands four square against wind turbines and the easiest political weapon to stop vast numbers of applications coming forward is to abolish the subsidies. That lies in the hands of the weak Coalition Government - weak because their few sensible Conservative MPs haven't the courage to kick the Lib Dems out, or to join UKIP en masse, and weak because the Coalition won't cross the EU diktat which sets the targets to be followed.

Within the restraints of current Government policy, UKIP Scotland fully endorses the the calls made by CATS: each point they make would be a huge bonus for Scotland - certainly a mandatory 2000 metre buffer zone between turbines and homes should be implemented now. Even if applied only to turbines over, say, 20 metres high, the current adverse impact would be reduced to a reasonable level. UKIP however, still contends that there should be no subsidy at all - there'd be precious few turbines even under 20 metres then - they are not self sustaining in any real sense. Farmers and ladowners now grab at turbines because, with the subsidy, they are the best available legal yield per acre!

It's a case of never mind the landscape or the economic realities - increase utility costs for all, bribe communities and subsidize useless machines for the sake of a daft political aim.

Beats me - even the dumbest politician must realise that there won't be many places left for a decent photo opportunity in an 'unspoilt' Scotland soon.

More EU Humbug

EU Medal Tracker | The European Union in Olympics comparison

Proof that EU nutters do not regard any members as Sovereign.  Humbug.

Mike Read has joined UKIP

Writer, broadcaster and TV presenter Mike Read is the latest high profile name to leave the Tories for UKIP.

Mike was welcomed aboard at the Party's South East Summer Conference in Frimley on Saturday which saw a turn-out of more than 400 supporters.

He was also among a host of speakers which included Party Leader Nigel Farage and Daily Express Political Chief Patrick O'Flynn.

Noble Cause Corruption

Psychologists have a term for the wishful thinking by which we accept any means if the end seems virtuous: ‘noble-cause corruption’…Politicians are especially susceptible to this condition. In a wish to be seen as modern, they will embrace all manner of fashionable causes. When this sets in — groupthink grips political parties, and the media therefore decide there is no debate — the gravest of errors can take root. The subsidising of useless wind turbines was born of a deep intellectual error, one incubated by failure to challenge conventional wisdom.’


http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/2012/06/osborne-versus-wind-farms/

Affodable Homes - Right to Buy not a barrier

Shelter Scotland are urging the Scottish Executive to abolish the right to buy.
The reasons are ostensibly understandable - there is a shortage of affordable homes to rent. Their thinking, however, is flawed: retaining a sitting tenant (by preventing them from buying) does not create a new home or shorten the waiting list.

Allowing a council house to be bought, does not make it disappear from overall stock. The occupants who, up to the time of purchasing, are council tenants, become home owner occupiers; owners indeed, of a house bought affordably. The Right to Buy is truly an affordable home purchase scheme. Well done Mrs Thatcher.

Some reforms are necessary. For example, all revenues raised should have to be used to support further access to affordable homes. The best way, I believe, would be to turn the revenue into grants to those on the waiting lists, towards deposits for new homes - in other words, used to subsidise purchase, making purchase more affordable. A variety of ways could be devised. 

Let's stop knocking a policy that has achieved a high home ownership ratio - an advance from the time when Scotland had fewer home owners proportionately than then communist East Germany.

British Trade

In or out of the EU, Britain would still trade with the other EU countries.  The UK is the biggest customer of many of these countries. So they would still trade with us.

Moreover, data produced last week shows that we are now increasing our trade with the rest of the expanding world.

We should foster our Commonwealth ties and trade. 

We should leave the EU - switch back from political subservience to free trade.

Weakness

David Cameron is at his weakest when Clegg sits him down beside him to show their happy solidarity.

Gutless MPs, MSPs and MEPs.

I have said more than once that there are too many MPs, MSPs and MEPs who continue to suck up to their party whips instead of having any real integrity, the courage to refuse the whip, leave the offending party and represent the true interests of their constituency...mind you, perhaps they are wiser - I lost my council seat because I stuck to that principle. Does your MP whinge about his/her own party's policies but still sup with the devils? I could name a few such gutless wretches.

Mike Scott-Hayward

Chairman

UK Independence Party Scotland

07917365197/01334655040

The Courier - July 2: Unreasonable to suggest a conflict of interest on windfarm applications

The Courier - July 2: Unreasonable to suggest a conflict of interest on windfarm applications

Got a bite!

It would be great if all Community Council Chairmen were indeed impartial and fair; we all know many are the most involved!

The fault lies with a dichotomy of organisations - CDTs usurp CCs. If both are to exist, they should be seperate, but small communities do have too few actual activists. That, though, should not be allowed to be an excuse for allowing conflcits of conscious and/or interest.

Is OSCR working?

The Development Trusts Association explains that Development Trusts are supposed to be community organisations which are owned and managed by the local community, aim to achieve the sustainable regeneration of a community or address a range of economic, social, environmental and cultural issues within a community, are independent but seek to work in partnership with other private, public and third sector organisations and aim to reduce dependency on grant support by generating income through enterprise and the ownership of assets.

Crucially, it also tells us that all trading surpluses are principally reinvested in the organisation or the community.

I will be writing to OSCR, the Scottish Charities Commission, to ask what monitoring they have in place watching these Trusts.

A Wind Farm Developer is reputedly behind the setting up of what has been styled a Community Development Trust, including a handful of community activists, at least one Community Councillor, and a representative of a land owner, to dispense a mere 10%, not all of trading profits, of a proposed wind energy development in North East Fife. This group has registered with Companies House but it is not at all clear who selected these people to "own and manage" the Trust on behalf of the community and I have yet to hear of any proper community wide call for them to be established as the whole community's represenatives. I hope I am wrong, but it seems that these people are more or less self-selecting, most with vested interest, and that they may be out of step with the real community. There ought to be a proper process to determine any such mandate. How can they use the term "community" without such a process?

I believe it is up to the Charities Commission to know and to explain what is going on, and to say if it is all being done properly. The big question is this: Who has the right to claim they are a community trust, and by what criteria? Or are trusts now a free for all area, which any vested interest group or wind developer can establish?

The Courier - June 28: A serious conflict of interest in some community councils over turbines

MSPs and Councillors should pursue this: The Courier - June 28: A serious conflict of interest in some community councils over turbines

Are the Media blind?

Are the media blind or simply arrogant?  Do they report or manipulate and engineer?

In this age of Leveson, you would think that UKIP Scotland press releases would get better coverage - it'd be to follow processes known in some places as democracy and the right to a free press.

Business has to be wary of meeting quotas in defene of any charges of discrimination: the media should be obliged to be equally balanced.  

Is anyone there?

WIND DEVELOPER'S INSULT

What atrocious behaviour by certain wind developers in Fife!

A group which claims, in the media, that it seeks to benefit the community with handouts,  creamed from the Governments' (yes, plural - the axis of the Coalition at Westminster and the SNP crowd at Holyrood) green ROC based bribery fund - purports to be representative, balanced and a fair forum. Yet they avoid any reference to the downside of any deals - the most unwelcomed of turbines they intend to erect in others' backyards.


This has to stop.

Who do these people represent? Who elected them?

Salt is rubbed into the wound by the Community Develpment Trust usurping the role of elected community councils - some of whom have taken polls which have shown that the turbines are not wanted - and indeed, even gulling some naive community councillors who should be even-handed, into wearing two hats - that of community councillor and that of community trustee - I have yet to hear of any of these people declaring an interest when contributing to assessing a "balanced" community view!

Who is watching them?

Why are MSPs and MPs, not gagged by the Planning Authority, silent on these matters, with few honourable exceptions?



You know what? I think it stinks.

EU insults Britain

Even as we celebrate the Jubilee, we have insults piled upon us by the EU.  We must get out, and have real Independence - free of the EU


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1317286/Union-Flag-banned-on-car-number-plates.html

Wind Farm Access

There are many community penalties involved in the construction of wind farms, in addition to onging landscape damage.  Take a look: camster wind turbine,access road.

forum.caithness.org

The EU alienates us

We, the Britsh electorate, need to engage the attention of our MPs on this. Start by reading UKIP policies, and join us. That will grab their attention.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/9233096/Europe-alienates-us-all-as-foretold-40-years-ago.html#sections

Thar' she blows...

Cameron is as changeable as the wind - variable, backing three or four etc.  Or maybe it depends on which side of the bed Clegg gets up in the morning........

Landowners beware

Land owners beware:

http://www.petroliatopic.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3543854

Good turnout to support CATS at Holyrood today - The Scottish Executive, and indeed, Cameron and Clegg, are making a msitake: they MUST abolish FITS on turbines without delay.
Good to see some Tories making the gesture - but where is their meat? Or do they not know that their Coalition enables the FITS, and takes its direction and targets from Brussel?  Strong words from Tories who nonethelss toe the line amount to little more than spin. Follow Roger Helmer MEP.

Big Tee

See the Express
Golf club gets the wind up over giant turbine.
express.co.uk

If I told this at a dinner party, you would swear I made it up!

"Officials at the Royal Aberdeen, the sixth oldest club in the world, were horrified to see the 218ft mast go up just 40ft from the 14th tee.

"They claim they were not consulted and now fear it will affect the club’s status as one of the top 100 courses in the world.

“The turbine towers above the 14th tee, causing considerable disturbance to golfers when teeing off on one of the strongest holes on this ancient, classic, natural links.

“Easter brought out the first visitors of 2012. Their comments were ‘a great golf course in magnificent condition, but how did that turbine get there?’

“It is naive to think that the unsympathetic placement of wind turbines, onshore and offshore, will not impact considerably on organisations such as Royal Aberdeen Golf Club, which has quietly contributed much to the local community since 1780.”

Council Elections

Mike Scott-Hayward’s Councillor’s Manifesto

CONSTITUENTS FIRST

FIRST AND FOREMOST, I WILL PUT THE INTERESTS OF CONSTITUENTS FIRST.

And because UKIP’s pledge is “constituents first”, UKIP will not operate a party whip system though UKIP councillors will work together as a GROUP.

No other Party makes that promise – they must all toe the party line.

UKIP will cooperate with like minded independent councillors.

UKIP expects councillors of all parties to put CONSTITUENTS ahead of party dogma.


UKIP WILL FIGHT TO IMPROVE

LOCAL DEMOCRACY


I am standing in the East Neuk and Landward Ward of Fife whre I have served as an outspoken and independent minded councillor, following on from my army career in the Royal Artillery.

I am also serving the public as a full time member in Her Majesty’s Coastguard Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre at Fifeness, a role that will cease ere long when the station is closed by the Coalition Government.

I am not one of those councillors who likes to cosy up to officers and bureaucrats on first name terms. I prefer to hold the unelected to account and I do not seek to defend “the cooncil” come what may.
They must serve us.

I will continue to fight for democrat rule. I resent the rules imposed by the Scottish Parliament which prevent councillors from speaking out on many issues, especially planning matters, as that stops us from playing a leading role in matters of importance to individuals and communities.

I would be honoured to serve again.

HOW UKIP COUNCILLORS WILL FIGHT TO IMPROVE LOCAL DEMOCRACY

• UKIP will enable local communities or groups to assert their democratic views when dissatisfied with Council actions or decisions, by encouraging them to petition their Council to hold a referendum on the issue. When such a petition is signed by 10% or more of the people affected by the issue, UKIP councillors will put forward motions in the Council demanding that the Council hold the referendum and:
o Where legally permitted, such motions would call for a change in the council decision in line with the referenda result.
o Where a change in a council decision is not permitted in law (as may be the case in quasi- judicial matters i.e. planning), UKIP would subsequently propose a motion of public censure of the Council.
• Call for local opinion to be evaluated by local referenda on major planning schemes like supermarkets: these would inform the legal decision makers in addition to existing rights of representation.
• Enable Community Councils to hold simple local community surveys to establish community views before expressing them.
• Oppose increased central government control and interference in local government.


UKIP WANTS TO

• KEEP POLICE ON THE BEAT TO PROTECT YOU

• STAMP ON UNSOCIAL BEHAVIOUR

• IMPROVE CARE FOR THE ELDERLY – CUT CHARGES

• DEVELOP YOUTH SERVICES – ENCOURAGE RESPONSIBILITY

• MAINTAIN THE ROADS AND PAVEMENTS PROPERLY

• INCREASE PROVISION OF FREE PARKING

• DEVOLVE BUDGETS, NOT BURDENS, IN ALL SERVICES

• END ASPIRATIONAL WAFFLE

• SLASH FAT-CAT PAY DEALS FOR SENIOR COUNCIL STAFF

• LIMIT THE NUMBER OF HIGH-PAID COUNCIL EMPLOYEES

• RESTRICT COUNCIL ADVERTISING AND SELF-PROMOTION

• SELL SURPLUS COUNCIL LAND

• ABOLISH NON-ESSENTIAL "POLITICALLY-CORRECT" SERVICES

• BE A GOOD LANDLORD

• ENCOURAGE ACCESS TO PRIVATE HOUSING

• PROMOTE SMALL BUSINESS AND REAL LOCAL JOBS

• CUT BUREAUCRATIC PROCEDURES ACROSS THE BOARD

• IMPOSE A PLANNING MOROTORIUM ON WINDFARMS

MAKE UKIP YOUR FIRST CHOICE

PS I would welcome any support towards my campaign. If you can offer me any help, please call me (01334655040 or email mikescotthayward@msn.com - remember, election law applies).


Promoted and published on his own behalf by MIKE SCOTT-HAYWARD, SAWMILL HOUSE, KEMBACK BIRDGE, FIFE KY15 5TP.

A waste of a By Election

Bradford West will have shocked them a bit but it is a shame that the voters didn't send a real message by electing UKIP - that would signal real intent for the people to have a say across the whole of the UK. Gorgeous George is an eccentric nuisance, effective maybe, but not a nation wide movement. The Coalition can survive George.

OPEN LETTER TO ROD CAMPBELL MSP

OPEN LETTER

Rod Campbell MSP
Scottish Parliament
EDINBURGH

Dear Rod,
I write to seek your immediate active assistance on a matter of concern which is affecting communities across Scotland, but not least in my ward, East Neuk and Landward, in your constituency of North East Fife.

The concern is about the divisive impact which the Feed in Tariff and Community Benefit, provided to support the erection and operation of wind turbines, is having within communities.

The position is simple and easily understood.

We are witnessing a deluge of planning applications for wind turbines and wind farms in East Neuk and Landward, and across your constituency of North East Fife. The driver clearly is the financial benefit which accrues from the various forms of subsidy. I, and many others, consider that without those subsidies, the systems would be wholly uneconomic. A false market is being created and that is leading to considerable potential and actual change to our landscapes.

I would be content to deal with applications on their planning merits alone but I consider that the subsidies are bribes which distort reality. I consider that Scottish Executive's planned resultant pressure must even Have an undue influence on the objectivity of Planning Authority officials. They are human.

Communities are being offered wealth, based on those handouts. In East Neuk and Landward, we have witnessed the loss of a Community Council at Largoward, solely due to the division caused by just such a subsidised application.

Other Community Councils are also facing internal divisions and it may in fact be the case that the conflict of interests they now face is making fair representation by them of their communities impossible.

Further conflicts will arise through the very nature of these small rural communities. Moreover, it is often the case that many of the people who become members of Community Counils also step forward to run Trusts, of various sorts, set up to facilitate, or to gain access to, the subsidised funding packages. The conflicts are obvious.

I understand you were present for a short time at the beginning of a debate in Holytrood on this matter on Thursday 1st December. I hope you will now turn your full attention to this issue, follow the difficulties and debate within your communities and assess the impact which this SNP and Scotttish Executive policy is having.

I suggest you will be well advised to attend a few community council meetings in the East Neuk, the public meeting on the 1st March in St Andrews arranged by Cameron Community Council, and, yes, some sessions of the East Area planning committee.

I will be happy to meet you to elaborate on my concerns about the communities in my ward and in North East Fife in general.

This is, as you will know from the vast correspondence in our local and indeed, increasingly, in national papers, is a growing matter of public interest. I am therefore releasing this as an open letter.

Yours aye

Mike Scott-Hayward
Councillor
East Neuk and Landward

Chairman UKIP Scotland

It started with Blair

We are approaching a period of potentially huge change for the United Kingdom – its possible destruction. Not good news on which to begin 2012. The build up to a referendum which will decide the fate of the United Kingdom has now begun in earnest and the battleground is here, in Scotland. UKIP Scotland is unlikely to be a major player; the media will focus on the establishment and parties with elected parliamentarians – but we can and must be more than observers.

The battle over separatism will be waged over as much as two years and set against the background of the potential, probably pending, collapse of the Euro Zone. Both battles are vital to us and UKIP big guns must deploy here often. The major parties will do so in strength, and we should welcome a strong Unionist fight. Facts and figures and numerous scenarios will be postulated; whilst I believe that ultimately most people will vote based on their emotive roots rather than on sophistry, we must battle to win over the undecided.

The SNP have the upper hand now, the initiative is theirs. It is vital that we all resist any temptation unwittingly to aide and abet separation; the mistake of creating a wholly separate devolved parliament in Scotland, distinct from Britain’s Parliament, must not be replicated elsewhere in Great Britain. Our UKIP policy of abolishing MSPs and replacing them within the Scotland Act with MPs proper is, I believe, right. Indeed, I think an England Act should create devolved parliament on those same lines – existing English MPs sitting for England, with all MPs still together in the House of Commons. We have messed enough with our constitution, an horrendous mistake started by Blair and leading by Coalition complicity towards the unravelling of all thet we have ever been.

English Parliament et al

It is my view that the Scottish Parliament, and the Welsh Assembly, should be made up of those Members of Parliament sitting respectively for Scotland and Wales.

English MPs sitting as such would conducted English business but it may well be that there is a need for an England Act, to formalise English MPs sitting as such, with power to elect a First Minister and to create an English Executive. That English Parliament then would have powers similar to Scotland.

There would, of course, be a need for Acts of Parliament to remove MSPs and Assembly Members, to be replaced by MPs, and possibly also to amend and enhance the Welsh Assembly's powers and status to that of a Welsh Parliament, fully equivalent to the Scottish and English Parliaments.

MPs would continue to serve as they do now at Westminster, working together for the UK, and with their feet on the ground within the devolved Parliaments.

Battle for British Unity

It is time that people realise that the Battle for British unity will be fought in Scotland.

The future of the United Kingdom will be decided right here, in Scotland. This is the political battleground. The attack on the UK began when a Labour Government and Donald Dewar created the Scottish Parliament. That was the equivalent of offering the SNP a beachhead and Alex Salmond has long since secured it.

The SNP have carried out political guerrilla raids, creating as many divides as possible, giving away freebies here to cause disgruntlement in England. The Scottish Parliament has been the battlefield tank forcing divides over student fees, prescription charges, and so called free home care. Even Tories in Holyrood have succumbed to the momentum, believing somehow that more autonomous power will mend the widening gap.

The shockwaves are now rippling to the surface, discombobulating the English, many of whom are now reacting exactly as Salmond wishes. We now see the predictable reaction which Salmond wanted as formerly sober minds in England call for an English Parliament.

They would rue it - we all will.

Already, in Scotland, MPs and the proper Parliament are being alienated from the electorate.

Very few people ever go to see an MP about a reserved powers issue - people need to see their highest elected representatives about more domestic concerns: housing, hospitals, pharmacies or schools threatened with closure, vandalism, crime rates and police numbers, yes, even dog dirt. In Scotland, this means that MSPs have the better interface with the electorate while our Scottish MPs become aloof, are channelled towards weighty national and international issues.

These are vital issues but the interaction of Westminster MPs and British subjects in Scotland, and Wales, is waning; the domestic issues that keep MPs in touch, which keep their feet on the ground, are no longer there in Scotland.

The same happening in England as well, will make the UK government increasingly remote from the people. The "assemblies" will become the focus and the Union will erode; that is why I say we must not replicate the error of the devolved bodies as constituted.

UKIP has a firm and sensible policy on this: the electorate should elect one MP for their constituency and that MP should be in Westminster most of the time and in the devolved more local parliament for the remainder.

The devolved body, the Scottish Parliament here, would continue as it is, but devoid of MSPs. In England, when Welsh and Scottish MPs are at work in their devolved home, English MPs would deal with England’s devolved issues. That means both UK national and domestic roles remained linked, through MPs who will keep a direct interface with the electorate and, exactly what is needed, excessive government is cut with fewer politicians overall with time on their hands to think of ways to rule us.

UK party leaders must not be tempted to balance the books by adding more overloaded assemblies to the mix - trim out instead - and engage the UK's number 1 enemy, Salmond, here, in the beachhead which he has established in Scotland

Vote UK Out of EU

I welcome the increasing mood across the country to challenge the government over membership of the EU.

Vote UK Out of EU has been set up by a businessman and the Electoral Reform Society will oversee a referendum in the constituencies of the Coalition leaders. The message has to be heard at some point - and the clarity of though displayed by Vote UK Out of EU is a lesson to the SNP, Cameron and others dithering over a vote on Scottish separation from the UK.

UKIP policy is that there should be a referendum on Scottish separation - it is Scotland's right to choice. UKIP, however, will campaign to keep the United Kingdom intact."

EU rules prevented checks for faulty implants

EU rules prevented checks for faulty implants

Britain's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), in some circumstances, is prevented by legislation from carrying out full checks on medical products, including PIP breast implants. UKIP's Chairman in Scotland, Mike Scott-Hayward, is quoting work done by UKIP MEP Paul Nuttall.

"Paul has found that under EU law, national regulatory authorities can grant their own companies and products a CE (European Conformity) mark, which provides a guarantee of quality. EU law then forbids other national regulatory authorities, from conducting further checks.

"Apparently, in the case of the PIP implants, the French authorities granted the appropriate status. MHRA was obliged to permit the import and marketing of the implants as they bore the CE mark, and could not carry out their own checks.

"French Authorities did finally shut down PIP, but not before 40,000 British women had been fitted with these faulty implants. The MHRA is forced, under EU law, to permit the import and marketing of any device which bears a CE mark, even though it has no direct jurisdiction over the manufacturer.

Mr Nuttall said: "The blame is not with the clinics, nor is it with the British regulators - the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). The real responsibility lies in a combination of regulatory failure in France, and then EU laws that prevent British authorities from protecting British consumers."

Mr Nuttall added: "I am writing to the European Commission to demand that in the future British authorities be allowed to make quality control border and spot checks on imported CE marked products, in order that they can in future do their job and protect the interests of British consumers." He is also calling on the Government to require the French authorities to provide compensation that will allow private clinics to remove and replace implants without being driven to bankruptcy through no fault of their own.

Fife Council - Pick a School - but only the one we allow....

Mike Scott-Hayward, UKIP councillor, has declared that Fife Council is now seen BY MANY MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC as being guilty of using guesswork to determine public opinion, and technological flannel to circumvent consultation.

"The councillors on the Education Committee should avoid the mistakes made by the Policy Finance and Asset Management Committee (PFAM) when deciding the future of secondary education in North East Fife. PFAM rejected a proposal to have a referendum of parents and locals to assess whether or not full reliance should fall on a single new, and therefore large, secondary on a site in St Andrews, or two smaller schools - one for St Andrews and the other for the Tay Bridgehead.

"The view in support of two schools has been quoted in local newspapers, but mention of that is ruled out, almost forbidden, by the parties in power; one of which was elected on the promise of two schools. Labour opposition also stands against a Bridgehead school.

"The rejection of asking the people, whom we trust to elect governments, means we are now either in the hands of the unelected wielding complex matrixes, the tick box approach, or in the hands of ad hoc groups pushing single views. I applaud the effort of those who have raised a petition of over 2000 names but note that sadly, those signing were offered only one choice to support.

"Others have raised the very valid point that one option, South Street, is ruled out simply because the size of school serving the whole area won't fit there, and on transportation grounds, too many busses: a two school option would allow that choice to be on the table and also cut bussing - now a seemingly also banned topic.

"No one now knows what level of support there is in reality for two schools; nor does anyone really know the level of support for each possible site in St Andrews. We would do, though, had PFAM not chucked out the idea of a referendum, which the Conservatives and I had proposed. This way, the Council's way, means we will all still be in the dark. The lid will not go back on this can of worms by these means. Do the public even know that they could have had a referendum?"

Cllr Scott-Hayward was also critical of the consultation with parents. "The first meeting of the so called working group, decided that the impact of public opinion had to be a criteria in the magic matrix, the table to be used to assess options. I asked if the assessing group would include parents or public and was soundly told that the assessment was a matter for the experts! At the meeting of Fife Council, I asked how officers would determine 'public opinion' and the Leader of the Administration told me that there are officers who are well versed in assessing public reactions. Yet at the meeting informing parents of the result of the deliberations, the first point made by officers was that they had decided to merge that criteria with others as they found it too difficult to assess and so public views will only be able to made as part of the planning application process. That, of course, is post decision.

"It's a mess"

Falkland Responds

Thanks to the Fife Herald publishing my call for a referendum in Falkland, local people got up a petition. Now the SNP councillor is delighted!

And I don't mind in the least that he is now following UKIP policy. He might have said thanks!

He will now carry the message of the people to the Council - they do not want "no alcohol" on the village green. We'll see; local Lib Dems are for the ban - one of them, a leading light, even said that I should stay away as he was best placed to decide who should vote in any referendum...........

You couldn't make it up.

Let the Villagers decide.....

The Community Council in Falkland, Fife, wants the Scottish Parliament to approve an alcohol free zone in the viallge.

I think that all the residents of Falkland should be given the opportunity to comment on whether or not the village should be an alcohol free zone.

UKIP policy is to have a local referendum on such issues - it could very easily be organised by the Community Council by simple having a copy of the electoral register to hand, crossing out the names of those appearing to cast a vote, and asking them to fill in a simple slip.

There are always strong views on both sides of this sort of matter and unless there is an over-riding issue, local views should swing the day. A good turnout will soon let all vested interest know the real common view.

RAF Leuchars closure and UK's Defences

Whilst the impact on St Andrews matters locally, the economic implications will be balanced by the use of the base by the army.

The real implications of what the Cameron and Clegg Government, however, is doing is unforgiveable.

From the time he first came forward to lead the Conservatives, in a contest against David Davies, Cameron dismayed me - he showed then in answers to questions about restoring our traditional regiments, that he has a poor grasp of the overall value of the Armed Forces. It is one reason why I left the Conservatives and joined UKIP.

Other politicians have been parochially vigorous but have not put their careers on the line in the defence of the Armed Services overall. This base closure is just another drastic step in a disastrous chain of events which MPS have sat and watched - indeed, condoned.

Coupled with the concept of building aircraftless aircraft carriers, scrapping ships and reducing the Britsih Army to the point where they couldn't fill Wembley Stadium, this new round of cuts puts us in a position now where we will not be able properly to defend the interests and safety of Britons. The Coalition clearly believes our future role is to play a second fiddle within a European Union Force. Holding on to the nuclear deterrent is all that will gives us credibility within that Force. Balance has gone - the impact is greater than any local disruption we may see North East Fife in the base changing from the RAF to the Army. Folk need to look at policies in future and not have simple pavlovian responses when we have the chance to influence, or choose, future governments.

Fife Health Board Experiment going wrong........

It is time to question the value of the elected local Health Board being piloted in Fife.

The Health Board is in charge of NHS Fife - with half its members being elected. This is a move designed to make the Board more accountable to users, more democratic and in tune with local need.

Well, that is falling apart, as far as I am concerned. I have watched in disbelief as the Board has jiggled pharmacy services in Leuchars and Balmullo, going from bad to worse. In an exercise which now seems to me to have been designed to kick the issue into long grass, the Board set up a special sub committee to examine and resolve the question of who gets what pharmacy in this rural part of Fife.

Two appointed board members were joined by two elected members, none of whom, I understand, represents East Fife, to make the important decision to either allow the GPs in Balmullo to have a pharmacy, or not.

The vote against the local plans, supported by the local people, was 3 to 1 against local needs. I don't call that a system designed to represent local views.

UKIP has a policy whereby this is exactly the sort of issue that should be decided by a local referendum - especially where a so-called local board is seen to be biased against local views.