Immigration causing major shortage of school places

Mass immigration is causing a shortage of school places and poor attainment amongst English-speaking pupils according to the Campaign for Real Education.

According to figures released by the Department for Education, 1.19m pupils in England speak English as a second language and the CfRE says that so much teaching time is taken up helping pupils that don't speak English as a first language that those who do are being held back and neglected. A teacher from Oxford has told the Association of Teachers and Lecturers that staff aren't trained to teach children who don't speak English as a first language.

One in six English secondary schools are over-subscribed but rising immigration means 300,000 extra children will need to be found a school place over the next 5 years.

Former Labour deputy leader of Rotherham Council accused of rape

The former Labour deputy leader of Rotherham Council has been accused of rape by one of the victims giving evidence against three brothers who have now been convicted of child sex offences.

Jahangir Akhtar - a relative of Arshid, Basharat and Bannaras Hussain who have all received prison sentences for grooming, pimping and trafficking young girls - has been accused of rape by one victim and possibly two others.

Akhtar was vice chairman of the South Yorkshire Police & Crime Panel but resigned after the Times published details of him doing a deal to avoid Arshid Hussain being prosecuted if he handed a missing girl to police at a petrol station.

Investigations into allegations of sexual abuse of children in Rotherham by Pakistani men have found evidence of decades of abuse allowed to continue because police, councillors and social services were scared of being accused of racism. Despite evidence of social services and the police failing to carry out their statutory duty of care, not one social worker or police officer has been prosecuted for their part in knowingly allowing child sex trafficking and paedophile gangs to operate in Rotherham with impunity.

Akhtar lost his seat to UKIP in the local elections last year. He denies the allegations.

Cambridgeshire Conservative County Councillor defects to UKIP

A Conservative county councillor in Cambridge has defected to UKIP.

Cllr Adrian Dent, who represents Bassingbourn division on the county council, said that the Conservative Party is not the democratic party he joined years ago and that he was forced to accept things that were bad for his ward and the people he was elected to represent because of the party whip.

Did you know?

UKIP doesn't operate a whip which means that its councillors are able to vote in the way that they consider to be in the best interests of the people they were elected to represent rather than how they are instructed to vote by the party whips.

The UKIP group on Cambridgeshire County Council now has 13 councillors, one short of the Lib Dems who form the second largest group. The Conservatives have a minority administration with 29 of the 69 councillors on the county council.

Nottinghamshire Lib Dem councillor charged with 10 counts of child sex offences

The former Lib Dem leader of Nottinghamshire County Council, Cllr Jason Zadrozny, has been charged with a number of sex offences involving children.

Cllr Zadrozny - who was suspended by the Lib Dems last year when he was charged with gross indecency with a child - has been charged with 3 counts of raping a male under 16, four counts of indecent assault on a boy under 16 and three counts of engaging in sexual activity with a boy aged 13 to 15.

EU orders Scottish beef rebranded as "from Europe"

The EU has forced the Scottish beef industry to relabel their products as "from Europe" in exchange for an advertising grant.

Quality Meat Scotland secured an £861k grant from the EU to promote Scottish beef but it came with strings attached. Scottish beef now has to have the slogan "Enjoy! It's from Europe" printed on it.

Rather than protest the hijacking of Scottish beef by the EU and the dilution of a valuable Scottish brand as you might expect a government to do, the Scottish government has instead given the directive its backing and is calling on other food producers to brand their products as European instead of Scottish.

EU postponing legislation to limit power of toasters until after the referendum

The EU is holding back new regulations cutting the power of toasters, lightbulbs and boilers and regulating the standby modes of electronic items including mobile phones until after the EU referendum.

EU officials are worried that their continual interference in every aspect of our lives will boost the campaign to leave the EU and are holding back legislation that they think will be unpopular. They have already decided to hold back a €20bn budget increase, new guidelines on freedom of movement and EU-wide accession to the ECHR that will override our own human rights legislation until after the referendum.

EU facing hostile voters in three referenda in three months

The EU is facing a democratic crisis with both Hungary and the Netherlands holding referenda on key decisions before the EU referendum in the UK.

The Netherlands is holding a referendum in April on the EU's treaty of association with Ukraine. The referendum on this treaty is being treated as a proxy vote on the Netherlands' relationship with the EU as a whole and opinion is as divided in the Netherlands as it is here.

Hungary, meanwhile, is holding a referendum on the EU's imposition of quotas for illegal immigrants which requires Hungary - along with other member states - to take a quota of illegal immigrants from other EU countries that are bearing the brunt of the EU's disastrous open door immigration policy.

While the Dutch (being "good Europeans" and one of the handful of net contributors to the EU budget) have been left to get on with their referendum, the Hungarians have been told that a referendum doesn't "fit into the decisions making process" by the EU Commission.

A survey by a leading Dutch pollster has found that a majority of Dutch people want a referendum on membership of the EU with a very small majority wanting out. The poll also finds that Geert Wilders' anti-immigration, anti-EU PVV is the most popular party in the Netherlands, enjoying almost double the support of the ruling VVD.

New daily newspaper from pro-EU, UKIP hating Trinity Mirror launches tomorrow

Trinity Mirror - which publishes the Mirror, the People and a long list of local and regional newspapers - is due to launch its new title New Day tomorrow following a £5m advertising campaign.

The new publication was only conceived a couple of months ago and they're going to print already. A suspicious person might wonder if the timing of the launch of yet another left wing, UKIP hating, pro-EU newspaper in the run-up to the EU referendum campaign was more premeditated than coincidental.

Martin Schulz on a United States of Europe

This is from 2013 but as relevant as ever. Martin Schulz is now President of the EU Parliament which will get to vote on and amend Cameron's new deal if we vote to stay in the EU.

US have one currency, one Central Bank and one Govt. Europe has one currency, one Central Bank and...17 govts! Cannot go on like this.

— Martin Schulz (@MartinSchulz) July 5, 2013

Residents of Faribourne taking legal action over global warming plan

Residents in the Welsh village of Fairbourne in Cardigan Bay are planning to take legal action after a council coastal management plan left their homes worthless through global warming propaganda.

Gwynedd Council has written coastal management plan for Cardigan Bay which assumes that sea levels will rise by 3.3ft in the next 40 years because of global warming, wiping out the village. Homes in the village have now been valued at zero by estate agents, making them impossible to sell.

Despite a couple of decades of sustained scaremongering by global warming propaganda merchants global temperatures have failed to rise, the ice caps have failed to melt and low-lying islands and coastal areas have stubbornly refused to be drowned under rising sea levels. The science of global warming isn't science at all, it's a series of alarmist stories to create headlines and keep research grants rolling in.

This financially and politically motivated scam has already claimed the lives of countless elderly and vulnerable people who are forced by "green" taxes to choose between eating and heating. Now the values of peoples' homes are being wiped out by the same scam.

Cameron plans to abuse honours system to bribe pro-EU campaigners

David Cameron is planning to reward up to 40 supporters of the EU with peerages^(£) after the referendum.

The combined upper and lower houses of Parliament makes the UK's legislature the second largest in the world, second only to China's which administers a country of 1.36bn people.

Stuffing the House of Lords with political appointments by successive governments has grown the upper house to a whopping 850 members which, when combined with the 650 MPs in the lower house, makes a total of 1,500 lawmakers. That's one politician for every 43,000 people or thereabouts. In the United States there is one lawmaker for roughly 617,000 people.

Cameron's abuse of the civil service and honours system to support his pro-EU campaign shows him up for the bullying dictator he is.

British government holding back British Bill of Rights & Responsibilities until after the EU Referendum

The British government are holding back their British Bill of Rights & Responsibilities - a new law that would replace the EU Human Rights Act and the 1689 English Bill of Rights - until after the EU referendum to avoid being slapped down over attempts to curtail the jurisdiction of the EU Court of Injustice.

The Human Rights Act - often referred to as the criminal's charter - brought into force the European Convention on Human Rights. The ECHR gave some of the human rights already enjoyed in England by the Bill of Rights, Magna Carta and Habeas Corpus (amongst others) legal protection under EU law and gave the EU Court of Human Rights and EU Court of Injustice the right to overrule our own courts when interpreting its provisions. In addition to what are considered human rights in the commonly accepted definition of the term, it gave new legal rights to criminals, illegal immigrants, hate preachers and terrorists that can be used to escape punishment and deportation.

The EU has already admitted to holding back new legislation and a budget review until after the EU referendum because they don't want to help the leave campaign and now it seems the British government are doing the same. Irrespective of the fact that we don't need a British Bill of Rights to replace the perfectly good Bill of Rights we've had for the last 328 years, the British government shouldn't be manipulating the legislative process for their own political campaigns.

The rights we have from our own constitution

Bill of Rights 1689

• Only Parliament can make or repeal laws
• Only Parliament can levy taxes
• All subjects have the right to petition the Crown
• Armed forces are answerable to Parliament
• Members of Parliament must be elected in free elections
• Immunity from prosecution for libel for Members of Parliament
• No cruel or unusual punishments or excessive bail
• The right to trial by jury
• No fines or forfeitures without conviction
• Parliament will sit on a regular basis
• The Crown is not above the law

Magna Carta 1215

• The right to trial by jury
• No fines or forfeitures without conviction
• The state cannot use force against you without legal authority

Habeas Corpus 1679

• Prisoners have a right to appear before a judge
• Prisoners can't be moved to a different prison or out of the country to avoid due process

Petition of Right 1627

• Only Parliament can levy taxes
• The Crown can't demand that you lend it money
• Armed forces don't have a right to enter your home and demand hospitality
• Soldiers have to obey the law of the land even when martial law is in effect

The "rights" we don't get from our constitution

• The right to break into the back of a lorry and illegally enter the country
• The right to preach hatred and intolerance on our streets
• The right to free housing and benefits without ever having to pay a penny in taxes
• The right to compensation for hurt feelings
• The right to special treatment because of your age, gender, sexuality, disability, race or religion

BBC bias over EU exit "risks British science" article

The BBC ran an article yesterday with the headline EU exit 'risks British science' in which the director of the EU-funded Francis Crick Institute claims that leaving the EU would be detrimental to the science industry. His claims are backed up by "Scientists for EU" - an organisation which the Leave Alliance have already taken to task over their dishonest political posturing.

Scientists for Britain, which advocates leaving the EU and opening up research programmes to the rest of the world, is given fairly equal coverage in the article arguing that the most successful scientific collaborations the UK takes part in have nothing to do with the EU and that the extra money we will save from not being in the EU can be put into research funding of our own.

So given the obvious lack of consensus - which the BBC actually reports - why does the headline read EU exit 'risks British science' rather than No consensus on impact of EU exit on British science? The BBC has already failed its impartiality test by giving prominence to pro-EU commentators on flagship programmes and allowing staff to call the EU "Europe" to confuse viewers, according to Tory MP, Andrew Bridgen. This biased headline is yet another example of the institutional bias in the EU-funded BBC.

The latest immigration figures are out and they still don't add up

Last year - according to British government figures - 257,000 immigrants arrived in the UK. Of those 257,000, about 630,000 applied for National Insurance numbers.

No, an extra zero hasn't slipped in there by mistake. About 630,000 new National Insurance numbers were issued to EU immigrants last year enabling them to work and claim benefits whilst according to the Office of National Statistics, only 257,000 EU immigrants came to live here.

Some of the discrepancy can be explained away by existing EU citizens living here without National Insurance numbers applying for a number because they've decided to work or pay tax but that's not a plausible explanation for a difference of over 370,000. Either there is rampant benefit fraud taking place or the ONS are way out on their statistics.

In reality it's probably a combination of both but mainly the ONS fiddling the numbers to suit a political agenda. We said back in November that the numbers didn't add up and they still don't.

The EU is holding back legislation until after the referendum

The EU are deliberately holding back on new legislation until after the EU referendum to avoid giving ammunition to the leave campaign.

Included in the queued up legislation is a proposal to increase the EU budget by €20bn, new guidelines increasing the freedom of movement rights and EU accession to the European Convention on Human Rights which will override domestic human rights legislation in all EU countries.

If the referendum goes the wrong way there is a lot of pain waiting for us as soon as it's over.

School calls police anti-extremist officers in to boy who visited UKIP website

A school in Hampshire has reported a pupil to the police for visiting the UKIP website, claiming that they were concerned that he might be an extremist.

Wildern School called Hampshire Police after checking 15 year old Joe Taylor's browser history and saw that he had visited the UKIP website to research immigration after a discussion in the classroom. The matter was referred to the extremist child grooming unit who had police officers take him out of class to question him, reportedly telling him that it was "not right" to support UKIP.

The school said that it wasn't solely his visit to the UKIP website but he also visited the EDL website last year after watching a documentary about the group. So that's one visit to an extremist anti-Islam website and one to the UK's third largest political party's website and the school and police have him marked down as a suspected future terrorist.

Wildern School and Hampshire Police should hang their heads in shame at what is quite clearly a politically-motivated attack designed to humiliate and intimidate a 15 year old boy. There's a word for that sort of thing: bullying.

Cameron is trying to fiddle the referendum using civil service

David Cameron has banned MPs' advisors on the public payroll from helping their MP campaign to leave the EU whilst allowing those working for pro-EU MPs to produce pro-EU propaganda.

Under new rules, civil servants working for MPs who are campaigning to stay in the EU will have full access to government briefings and will work on promoting the EU during the normal working day when you and I are paying their wages. But civil servants working for MPs who are campaigning to leave the EU have been banned from receiving government briefings and are only allowed to promote their MP's leave campaigning in their personal time.

The remain campaign will have double the spending limit of the leave campaign thanks to political parties being given spending allowances, the purdah rules have been changed to allow local councils and quangos to spend taxpayers' money to promote the EU, both EU-funded state broadcasters - Channel 4 and the BBC - are promoting the EU and now our taxes are being used to fund covert state propaganda using civil servants.

This is the sort of thing you expect to find happening in Zimbabwe, not the UK. The only way this will be stopped is with a court injunction banning the remainians from abusing their power to fiddle the referendum. This should be on the to-do list of whichever group is officially designated by the Electoral Commission, along with a request to the UN for international observers to stop any more such abuses of power from taking place.

Meet the #BRExit GO GO Girl with Britain's Coming Home.

Nothing says British like making your own entertainment!

Officially approved by David Baddiel... kind of...

Just to be clear: me and Frank didn't give permission for this. But it's so brilliantly naff, we might've anyway. https://t.co/pbCAYNxdsg

— David Baddiel (@Baddiel) February 23, 2016

FTSE companies withdraw support for pro-EU letter paid for by the taxpayer

Thanks to a change in the rules to allow Downing Street to use taxpayer-funded civil servants to promote the EU, they've had one of David Cameron's SpAds draft a letter for FTSE 100 company bosses to sign promoting the EU.

Last week they were briefing the papers that 80 of the top 100 companies on the FTSE were going to sign the letter. Yesterday they were briefing the papers that 50 of the top 100 companies on the FTSE were going to sign the letter. Today the letter is published in the Times with just 36 signatures. How embarrassing.

H/T Guido

We're backing GO

The EU referendum is a once in a lifetime opportunity to free ourselves from the undemocratic, unproductive, corrupt EU and to ensure that we have the best possible chance of getting the right result for the country we need the myriad leave campaigns to work together.

We are therefore backing the Grassroots Out leave campaign in its bid to be given official designation by the Electoral Commission and urging all leave campaigners to join GO and work together to secure the result we all want.

It is increasingly apparent that Vote Leave is the group of choice for politicians whilst Leave.EU is presenting a more tabloid campaign designed to appeal to the man on the street. There's nothing wrong with tailoring those campaigns to a particular audience but they need to work together rather than pulling in opposite directions or playing games of one upmanship.

So we are calling on Vote Leave and Leave.EU to put their differences aside and work together constructively under the GO umbrella alongside the the likes of Business for Britain, Better Off Out and the Freedom Association who have already joined forces under the GO banner.

Bo-Jo says GO

Boris Johnson has come out in favour of leaving the EU today, delivering a personal blow to David Cameron who will have been banking on support from his Oxford chums.

The addition of Boris Johnson to the ranks of leave campaigners is a big boost for the independence campaign as he's hugely influential in the Conservative Party and with the general public.

The writing was on the wall for Boris campaigning to leave the EU when his wife laid into David Cameron for not kicking the EU courts into touch and instead deciding to "duck the issue entirely".

Describe David Cameron in one word? Sounds like ...

ASLEF trade union will campaign to leave the EU

The train driver's union, Aslef, is the latest trade union to come out against the EU.

Aslef have adopted a policy of opposing membership of the EU on the proviso that they don't campaign alongside "any of the racist, misogynist xenophobes of Ukip and the like".

Nicole Sturgeon says leaving the EU will trigger a second independence referendum

Nicola Sturgeon has said that voting to leave the EU would be one of the triggers for a second independence referendum.

The SNP leader and Scottish First Minister said that Scotland would be better off as an "independent" member of the EU and that "it is better for us in all circumstances to stay in".

It costs £55m to be a member of the EU and £30m a day to keep Scotland in the UK. If Nicola Sturgeon is hoping to influence the vote in England with the threat of another Scottish independence referendum she's going to be disappointed!

DUP will campaign to leave the EU

The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) will be campaigning to leave the EU.

Northern Ireland First Minister, Arlene Foster MLA, said:

The Democratic Unionist Party has always been Eurosceptic in its outlook.  At every stage in this European negotiation process we had hoped to see a fundamental change to our relationship with Europe. In our view we see nothing in this deal that changes our outlook.  Therefore we will on balance recommend a vote to leave the EU.

With eight MPs at Westminster and 38 MLAs at Stormont, the DUP will play an important part - along with UKIP - in the EU referendum campaign in Northern Ireland where Sinn Féin have already pledged to campaign hard to keep us in.

Richard Branson backing the EU from his private island in the British Virgin Islands

Richard Branson has spoken out in favour of staying in the EU, saying "having the European Union there are just so many benefits and I just hope sense will prevail when it comes to having the vote on it".

Just a reminder that Richard Branson lives on his own private island in the notorious tax haven, the British Virgin Islands and moved the global headquarters of Virgin out of the EU to Switzerland to take advantage of its progressive tax regime, secrecy laws and lack of EU red tape.

Move yourself and Virgin back into an EU country for a bit and we might take you seriously, Rich.

[UPDATED 17:05] West Midlands regional conference in Wolverhampton

We're blogging from the first ever UKIP West Midlands regional conference in Wolverhampton today. Congratulations to regional chairman Dave Everitt and his team on securing an excellent venue in the Wolverhampton racecourse and the support of a broad range of organisations as well as party leader Nigel Farage who will be making an appearance later today.

17:05 Nigel's speech in a nutshell: Let's roll our sleeves up, let's win this referendum

16:55 Questions and Answers are over, it's Nigel time!

16:40 Nigel Farage is in the building

16:25 Standing ovation for Deputy Leader, Paul Nuttall. Passionate and inspirational.

16:20 It is estimated that between 4 and 8 million people will come to Europe this year alone. We must be the party that protects womens' rights. We must be the party that says Sharia courts where a woman has half the value of a man have no place here. We should be the party that tells women you should not have to live your life hidden behind a veil.

16:16 I must point out that Paul Nuttall has said a lot but like the rest of the room I'm far too busy clapping every other thing he says. He's really on form today.

16:15 The first place we should start is to reignite our links with our kith and kin in the Commonwealth.

16:00 What people are voting on on 23rd June can be amended or rejected by MEPs. The EU Parliament is no friend of Britain ... they can alter this and they will.

16:00 The legend that is Paul Nuttall MEP - UKIP's Deputy Leader - takes the stage. The biggest round of applause of the day so far. Says this is the time to right the wrong of 1973.

15:55 Jim says we should open our arms once again to our Commonwealth cousins and is greeted with a huge round of applause.

15:50 Jim Carver MEP points out there was nothing in David Cameron's negotiations about withdrawing from the EU courts and taking back control of our legal system or taking back our seat on the World Trade Organisation.

15:40 John Flack wants UKIPpers to campaign as Grassroots Out, not as UKIP, not as Labour, not as Conservatives. This isn't the message from the party.

15:40 National Director of Grassroots Out, John Flack, pays tribute to UKIP and Nigel Farage for making the referendum happen. He says he simply does not believe what the Prime Minister says. He's a Tory. What does that say about David Cameron?

15:35 Steve Crowther wants every door knocked in the 18 weeks to the referendum. That's going to require a massive canvassing operation.

15:25 Caught up with the Imam from the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community and got his name. It's Imam Aqeel Kang.

15:25 If we vote to stay in the EU Parliament will get to vote on it after we've voted. And will they decide to give us what we want after we've voted to stay?

15:20 The EU Court of Justice has a history of ignoring legally binding agreements, even if they've been deposited with the UN.

15:15 Party Chairman, Steve Crowther, takes to the stage. He's almost as Marmite as Nigel but who can deny that the party has thrived under his tutelage?

14:45 Drivers contribute £50bn to the Treasury but only £6bn is reinvested into the road network so why should we pay any tolls for roads or bridges? Putting tolls on top of the fuel duty and road tax we already pay is simply wrong.

14:45 Drivers contribute £50bn to the Treasury but only £6bn is reinvested into the road network so why should we pay any tolls for roads or bridges? Putting tolls on top of the fuel duty and road tax we already pay is simply wrong.

14:40 Jill Seymour MEP - UKIP's Transport spokesman - takes the stage. UKIP has always been against HS2 and will continue to stand up and fight for those affected along its route. HS2 is part of the EU's TEN-T project, that's why successive British governments have agreed to spend £55bn on reducing traveling time from London to Edinburgh by 20 minutes. The EU Transport Committee wants to ban diesel cars from urban centres by 2020 and petrol cars by 2030.

14:35 Louise Bours MEP: UKIP's message is clear - believe in the NHS, leave the European Union

14:30 Louise says Jeremy Corbyn signing petitions to save the NHS from TTIP is disingenuous when the Labour Party is going to campaign to stay in the EU.

14:25 UKIP Health Spokesman, Louise Bours, says that TTIP will make the NHS less about public health and more about private wealth. The NHS should always be about TLC not PLC, public need not private greed.

14:20 Bill says we're no pale blue watered down Conservative Party, we're UKIP. We are the party that says what it means and means what it says.

14:15 Cllr Bill Etheridge MEP takes to the stage. After the referendum victory we'll march on and take council seats and Westminster seats. And why not see Nigel Farage as Prime Minister.

14:05 Nigel says Nissan are investing £100m in Sunderland, HSBC and Jaguar are staying in the UK. They wouldn't be investing in the UK if they thought there was a risk if we left the EU. If the CBI says it's a bad thing it must be a good thing.

Michael Gove breaks David Cameron's "collective responsibility" embargo and backs Leave

13:55 And we're into the first half of the afternoon session with journalist Nigel Hastilow. Warm words for UKIP from the former Tory candidate who used his newspaper column last year to tell voters to abandon UKIP and vote Conservative. Thanks UKIP for making sure there is a referendum and making sure David Cameron had no choice but to honour his promise.

12:45 When I first joined UKIP is was one of the youngest members. Now even the party director is younger than me. Thanks for making me feel old Paul.

12:35 Paul says that winning the election isn't the end. UKIP will still be here and injecting common sense into every level of politics. We stand to make big gains in Wales and get the party's first elected representatives in Scotland.

12:30 Party Director, Paul Oakden, takes the stage. He's wearing a Wolves tie in solidarity with the regional chairman. Apparently they're a football team. Paul asks every member in the room to stand if they've ever stood for election for UKIP - it's about 75% of the members.

BREAKING NEWS: Cameron announces referendum for June 23rd

12:25 First mention of the BBC by a speaker met with groans. Our EU-subsidised state broadcaster isn't very popular amongst the rank and file membership.

12:22 If we have to pay tariffs when we leave the EU then so be it. They export twice as much to us as we export to them. For every £1 we have to pay in tariffs they would have to pay £2. So bring it on!

12:20 Bob says that we should embrace the growing global market, including the Commonwealth, rather than the relatively tiny, shrinking EU. If the EU applied to join itself today it would be rejected because it would fail its own democracy test, being run by unelected commissioners like Neil Kinnock who got their jobs by losing elections.

12:10 Dr Bob Spink - technically UKIP's first MP - takes the stage. Plenty of laughter from the room when he defines politics: Poly as in "many" and Tics as in "blood sucking insects". Bob seems to regret resigning the UKIP whip almost as soon as he took it which he says lost him his seat at the next election but will be standing as UKIP Police and Crime Commissioner candidate for Essex.

12:05 UKIP West Midlands regional chairman, Dave Everitt, is presented with a thank you gift from the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community.

12:00 The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community raises over £500m a year for charities including the Royal British Legion. The Community has a 200 year history of promoting peace and tolerance, loyalty and being law abiding.

11:55 The Iman (sorry, didn't catch his name) says that the Koran says it is your duty as a muslim to obey those who rule you locally. It is the duty of a muslim to obey the law and integrate with society. Love of one's country is part of Islam.

11:50 An Imam from the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community takes the stage. The actions of extremists with their corrupt ideology grieves all real muslims.

11:45 Flo says that LGBT* people are disproportionately affected by mental health issues, homelessness and social and economic deprivation. UKIP is accused of being homophobic but Flo has had "nothing but respect and equality" from members of the party.

11:35 The second session kicks off with Flo Lewis, chair of LGBT* in UKIP.

West Midlands Young Independence Chairman, Cllr Thomas Hoof, takes to the stage. The media tell us that young people don't join UKIP and don't want to leave the EU. Young Independence represents about 10% of the party's membership and is growing month on month.

Cllr Peter Reeve - UKIP Local Government Spokesman - leads with a tribute to the late Cllr Steve Povey who showed the party how to do local politics.

UKIP Disabilities Spokesman Cllr Star Anderton tells conference about the challenges facing disabled people in light of the cuts being made by local authorities. Shopmobility services are being cut, housing for disabled people is being cut, social housing is being cut.

Martin Day from the UKIP Save the Pub Campaign issues a rallying call to members to get behind pubs and fight pub closures.

Desperate Dave's Dodgy Deal Disappoints

David Cameron has got his deal having caved in further on his already watered down compromises on the compromises on his original "demands".

No firm details have been released yet as it will need to go to a special meeting of the Cabinet where Cameron will attempt to bully as many ministers as possible into backing his sham renegotiations.

What we do know is that his plans for cutting in-work benefits for immigrants have been watered down again. It originally started off as limiting immigration from the EU, then it was changed to a ban on immigrants claiming any benefits for 7 years to try and discourage them from coming here, then it was watered down to 4 years of in-work benefits, then it was watered down to starting at nothing and building up to full entitlement by the end of 4 years but the EU gets to decide when the restrictions can be applied and they can only stay in place for a maximum period of time which was originally 13 years but was watered down again yesterday to 7 years. It would also only be applied to newly arrived immigrants and only starting from 2020 and the restrictions will have to be applied to our own citizens as well so it doesn't discriminate against people from other EU countries.

We also know that the "ever closer union" statement in the Treaty of Rome which has no legal standing will continue to have no legal standing and that it will be changed in a future treaty to say that everyone else in the EU still wants ever closer union but the UK doesn't.

Cameron's red line on immigrants claiming child benefit for kids they've left at home evaporated and they will continue to be able to export their child benefit, albeit at different rates. Child benefit for kids not living in the country will be index linked to the cost of living in the country in which they live. For most immigrants that will result in a decrease in payments but for a significant number it will result in higher payments because the cost of living is higher than the UK.

The fact that even these pathetic, watered down tweaks that change absolutely nothing about the EU or our relationship with it were opposed so vehemently highlights the abusive relationship we find ourselves in with our so-called partners in the EU.

You like Bloggers4UKIP? Of course you do, you are reading it!

How about spreading that joy to others?

You can do it, you can help spread the word, make an impact on the EU referendum results!

I'd love to include a read summary of posts here for RadioFreeUK... It would take someone a tiny bit of time each week - it can be recorded on anything from a smartphone up!

What could you manage? Just a run down of the titles of postings and a one line summary? Ok we could use that... read one entire item too? Better still!

If you can do it, we can probably use it! Spread the joy! email if you are interested, make a real impact on the EUReferendum! [email protected]


Radio Free #39th Weekly Friday Show - Out now!

I have got to be honest... I am a bit disappointed that we still don't have a referendum date...

The lack of a deal doesn't matter, Cameron hasn't asked for anything that would change anyone's' vote anyway, it is just the referendum date that is of interest!

But what we do have this week - is...

Updates from the main Leave campaigns, and an item on 'Brexit the Movie' - a well produced trailer, but will they hit their target funding in the next 11 days to make the main feature?

An item on the contempt the left seem to have for the UK, while insisting that we remain in the EU that (if anything) has made the UK a place they hate over the past 40 years!

Items from our regular contributors (sterling effort peeps!)

- James 'Jake the Writer' Clark on how things just keep getting better and better(!).

- Scottie K gives a great overview of 'remain' campaign tactics, and is speaking at the Grassroots Out meeting this evening!

- Vanessa is back! fired up over the planned destruction of the UK criminal justice system, to be replaced with the inferior (and dangerous) continental Napoleonic system.

- Alan gives us a taster of his antics this week, what a busy man he is!

- We have two of Godfreys EU speeches backing up his tax podcast from the other week.

- Better Off Out report on Gerard Battens London conference on the organisation and strategy for the various Leave campaigns and organisations.

And we finish with the next chapter of our audio book, and some Batsby humour to wind it up.

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Former Labour MEP Baroness Morgan claims leaving the EU will cause "absolute devastation" to farmers

Labour peer, Baroness Morgan, has written a bizarre article for Wales Online urging the National Farmers Union (NFU) to tell Welsh farmers about the "absolute devastation" that would befall the farming industry when we leave the EU.

The "absolute devastation" would apparently be caused by the EU no longer giving us back £3bn in CAP payments from the £20bn membership fee we have to pay to be in the EU, the inability of Welsh farmers to sell lamb to the EU because by some leap of inexplicable logic leaving the EU means nobody in the EU will want to buy anything from the UK and because we will have to negotiate agreements with 27 EU member states rather than negotiating one agreement with the EU like the rest of the world does.

She goes on to suggest that the EU can be trusted to keep on subsidising farmers as they currently do but the British and Welsh governments can't be trusted to support Welsh farmers in the same way.

Her entire article is so dishonest that it needs to be taken apart point by point. I'm going to have to paraphrase because like most politicians she says a lot without actually saying much. It should also be borne in mind that Baroness Morgan is a former Labour MEP and is required to promote the EU in order to qualify for her very generous EU pension when she retires.

CAP payments are worth over £bn to the UK and 50% of Welsh farmers would have made a loss if it wasn't for subsidies.

That £3bn paid out to UK farmers (not just Welsh farmers) is paid for using our own money. We pay about £20bn in membership fees to be in the EU and get £3bn back in farming subsidies. The price of that is hundreds of thousands of pages of legislation on how farmers can farm, expensive schemes like electronic passports and tagging, unfettered competition from other EU countries who can supply supermarkets for a fraction of the cost of UK farmers and giving up the right of the British and Welsh governments to legislate on farming and agriculture.

We could pay the entire amount paid in subsidies to the UK under the Common Agricultural Policy for less than 8 weeks of what we pay to be in the EU and in doing so direct it to the farmers that need it the most and in a way that suits the needs and priorities of our own farming industry rather than under a single set of rules that is supposed to reconcile the interests of Italian olive growers, Polish dairy farmers, French pig farmers and Welsh hill farmers at the same time.

Farmers shouldn't have faith in the British government to support them when we leave the EU.

The EU currently controls farming in its entirety. The British government merely transposes EU legislation and directives into domestic law, it doesn't have any say on policy or what those laws achieve. Changes to any aspect of farming, including CAP subsidies, are decided by the EU. The UK is one voice amongst 28 member states and has never successfully blocked EU legislation that the British government has opposed. If the EU decided to abolish CAP payments then we would have one vote out of 28 member states. Of those member states, only 8 - the UK included - receive more than €2bn a year in CAP subsidies. CAP subsidies really aren't a priority for the majority of EU member states who would quite happily see the 40% of the EU budget spent on farming subsidies diverted elsewhere.
When militant French farmers are unhappy with something they go to Brussels in their tractors and clog up the streets outside the EU Parliament. They don't bother protesting at home so much any more because they know the French government can't fix what's wrong. They attempt to influence the EU policy makers in Belgium in the hope that they'll propose something that all 28 member states will agree to which will in turn be supported by a majority of the 751 MEPs from those 28 member states which will then hopefully eventually make it into French law to have the effect that was originally intended.

When we leave the EU, farmers in the UK will be able to lobby the British and devolved governments directly who will be able to make a decision based on our own interests and to suit our own farmers. They won't need to agree a set of rules that suit farmers from across an entire continent, just what works for us. Farming subsidies can be paid directly to the farmers that need them in a way that suits them and based on our own priorities. If farmers are unhappy with the way they're being treated by the British government they can lobby or protest the British government, not an unelected bureaucracy in another country.

Norway is the 10th largest contributor to the EU budget, has no say on the EU's rules and we would have to pay £7.5bn to access EU markets on the same terms.

When we leave the EU we will negotiate our own trade agreement with the EU. We don't need to adopt the Norway model or the Switzerland model or the Iceland model or the Greenland model. The UK is the EU's largest export market, it is of far more value to them than the EU is to us. We export more to the rest of the world than we do to the EU and the gap is increasing year on year. We may have to make a contribution to the EU to continue to access the common market but given the disproportionate value of the UK market to the EU you could argue that the EU should pay for access to the UK.

It is dishonest to say that Norway has no say on how the EU is run because as an EFTA member Norway, Switzerland, Iceland and the other non-EU EFTA members get to examine, debate and amend proposed legislation affecting the common market right at the start of the legislative process. The legislation that gets to the EU committees and parliament is already shaped by Norway and others.

73% of agri-food exports go to the EU and the terms of our trade with the EU will change when we leave.

It is correct to say that approximately 73% of UK agri-food exports are destined for EU countries but that's only half the story. The UK imports twice as much agri-food products from EU countries as it exports. Of course the way we trade with the EU will change when we leave, there would be no point leaving the EU if nothing changed. But the World Trade Organisation has said that trade tariffs would have to remain as they are now when the UK leaves the EU and that no further barriers to trade can be established.

Any agreement we make with the EU when we leave will be made difficult by the fact that all 27 remaining members would have to agree to it.

This is exactly the same as the current situation. We are one voice amongst 28, 73 MEPs out of 751. We don't call the shots, the decisions are made by other countries who form their own blocs - eastern European countries, France and Germany, the Mediterranean countries. The difference is, when we're out of the EU if we don't like what the other 27 countries come up with we're under no obligation to go along with it. People like Baroness Morgan say that we will have to follow all the EU's rules to keep access to the common market but Switzerland has shown that not to be the case. Switzerland decided in a referendum to abolish free movement of people with the EU, the EU told them they weren't allowed and would be kicked out of the EEA if they did and they did it anyway. There has been no punitive action taken against Switzerland because as a sovereign nation they can do what they want.

Under the EU's own Lisbon Treaty the EU is required to have friendly relations with its neighbours that encourage prosperity. This, coupled with the fact that the UK is the EU's largest export market and the world's 6th largest economy, means that the EU has no choice but to agree a sensible trade agreement with the UK. They won't make it easy of course but we hold all the cards. We have a resilient economy and conduct most of our trade outside of the EU, we could survive without free trade with the EU if necessary. The EU has an incredibly weak and volatile economy and conducts most of its trade with the UK, they can't survive without free trade with the UK.

A leap into the dark is the last thing the agriculture sector needs when times are tough.

Leaving the EU isn't a "leap into the dark". If you want to know what happens when you leave the EU look at Greenland which left in 1985. They did most of their trade with North America and economically and culturally they weren't Europeans. The EU didn't work for them so they left. If you want to know what it's like being in Europe but not in the EU look at the 23 countries in Europe that aren't in the EU. If you want to know what it's like trading with the world without being in the EU then look at the 169 countries that aren't. Going back to being an independent nation after the 43 year failed experiment of being in the EU isn't taking a leap into the dark, it's going back to what we know.

ConservativeHome founder Tim Montgomerie resigns from Conservative Party

The founder of ConservativeHome and lifelong member of the Conservative Party, Tim Montgomerie, has resigned from the party with a scathing attack on David Cameron.

Cameron's unswerving support for the EU along with out of control immigration and soaring national debt is the straw that broke the camel's back and prompted Montgomerie to cancel his membership of 28 years.

It remains the greatest source of social misery on the continent — requiring intense austerity in countries such as Greece and causing terrible youth unemployment across southern Europe from which millions will suffer lifelong scars.

Montgomerie isn't planning on joining another party just yet but he's talking the talk and walking the walk of a UKIPper at the moment. Who knows what will happen in the near future?

President of the EU Parliament says Cameron's renegotiation won't be legally binding

President of the EU Parliament, Martin Shultz, has told David Cameron that any deal he does with the EU Commission won't be legally binding despite repeated claims by Cameron, the Conservatives and Downing Street that it will be.

Cameron said that his renegotiation will be lodged with the United Nations as a legally binding treaty.

If it is agreed, it will be agreed as a legally binding treaty deposited at the United Nations

But Schultz has dismissed that fantasy, confirming that there will be no treaty change and that it won't become legally binding until MEPs have amended it and voted on it after the referendum.

Cameron has form for inventing treaties. You may recall that in the back end of 2011 we were told that he had vetoed a new EU treaty but after submitting a Freedom of Information request for a copy of the draft treaty, the Foreign & Commonwealth Office replied "no EU Treaty was drafted at the European Council in December".

Cameron's sham renegotiation will be watered down by MEPs after the referendum

David Cameron's sham renegotiation is expected to be watered down even further when MEPs get their hands on it.

The EU Commission and EU Parliament both have co-legislative powers, meaning that new legislation has to be passed by both bodies before it becomes law. The EU Commission may agree to a watered down version of Cameron's compromised compromises but the EU Parliament is full of militant europhiles who hate the UK and are absolutely committed to the EU project and who will oppose anything that runs contrary to the federalist project.

Whatever Cameron agrees with the EU Commission will also need to be agreed by the EU Parliament and will be subject to change by MEPs after the referendum. Not only will voters be asked to vote for a set of watered down compromises of compromises but they'll be asked to vote for a set of watered down compromises of compromises that will probably bear little resemblance to the even more watered down version that makes it through MEPs.

New GMB general secretary will use union to campaign for the EU

The incoming General Secretary of the GMB union intends to mobilise their 640,000 members to campaign to stay in the EU.

General Secretary-elect Tim Roache says that we have to stay in the EU (or "Europe" as he ignorantly calls it) because the EU has given workers rights and Cameron can't be trusted to do the same. He says that Cameron and his cronies will "drive down pay and conditions" when we leave the EU but then goes on to criticise the British government for allowing companies to advertise for cheap immigrant labour from eastern Europe which drives down pay and conditions but which the British government is unable to stop.

The RMT union has already come out in favour of leaving the EU.

Labour back #BRExit - but are too stupid to realise! (figures...) #EUOut

I know you have to be stupid to be a socialist, but this is simply amazing... Labour conference said

Conference opposes working with any campaign or faction in the forthcoming Referendum which supports or advocates cutting employment or social rights for people working in the United Kingdom.

Got that? They are interested in rights... so who controls what rights we can or cant set in the UK?

Oh... its the EU... if they want to cut rights, by pricing industry out of the UK with green taxes, or destroy employment by signing up to TTIP they can, and UK have no control...

If you want a say in rights for people living in the UK, you are best advised to vote for #BRExit and do it at Westminster where we have directly elected representatives...

Not have the agenda set by the 30 odd unelected, unaccountable, alien EU Commissioners in Brussels...

Source:

Exclusive: Lab Gen Sec advises local parties not to hold #euroref debates Here is the email. @BBCNewsnight pic.twitter.com/lLGA20eRZj

— David Grossman (@davidgrossman) February 15, 2016

Click for Full Size Image

[First Published at: http://free-english-people.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/labour-back-brexit-but-are-too-stupid.html]