Northampton
Commentary
2nd Dec 2012
Following Margot’s terrific performance in
Corby two weeks ago we now add three
more,-
Croyden North,- Winston McKenzie, 6%, third
place.
Middlesborough, - Richard Elvin, 11.8%,
second place.
Rotherham, - Jane Collins, 22%, second
place.
All three beat the Lib-Dems, two of whom
lost their deposit; with Corby that’s three Lib-Dem lost deposits recently. No
surprise that Labour won all these by-elections in their traditional areas. But
remember, we also beat the Lib-Dems in 7 of the PCC elections.
Actually, this should have been a Brussels
commentary but when I heard about the foster children scandal I decided to
abandon the two day Employment Committee and spend some time in Rotherham
instead, on election eve. That we were helped by this outrage is irrelevant;
the Labour Council did not have to take the children away just before the
election. That’s arrogance. This action was condemned on all sides, not least by
those who called at the UKIP stand in the market place, where I spent the day.
People who stopped to talk all said the Council action was disgraceful and most
said they were Labour voters, but never again.
For me, it is more than that. That Council
acted as a totalitarian regime,- suppression of
dissidents is what they do best. They could not stop this couple from
voting as they wished so they took the children away. How nasty can you get? It
reminded me of Stalin sending thousands of dissidents to the Gulags, of the
Gestapo in Nazi Germany and of the East German Stasi.
I see a lot of this undemocratic attitude
in Brussels and Strasbourg but in
Rotherham I met a lady UKIP member from Sheffield where she was a magistrate. Or,
rather, a former Magistrate. She was finding that, increasingly, she was not
conducting her Court, passing judgements, or dispensing justice according to our
own legal system, forged over generations, but forced to follow EU systems
instead. The EU has thus penetrated right down to local magistrate level, so
she quit. Good for her, and we now have a fine member.
I try to present a flavour of EU control
madness in these commentaries and I offer another here. You will have seen the
videos of Nigel and of responses from people like the demented Guy Verhofstadt,
Belgian leader of the Lib-Dems. He remarked that the EU budget was only140
billion Euros, a lot less than most national budgets. His conclusion,- “Don’t
waste money on national Budgets, increase the EU budget”! He was not alone in
leading MEPs in calling for increased EU spending.
Another MEP, Ms Zimmer (Socialist) said
that Nigel was wrong to speak like that, “Why do you always have to speak
against us?” Clearly, she has not understood the meaning of democracy. For her,
and lots of them, democracy is no more than putting an “X” on a ballot paper
every now and then. She, they, do not understand that in a Parliamentary
Democracy principled opposition is of the essence.
That’s the way the EU is going, and its
coming here, make no mistake. So we start by a mass attack in the Council
elections next May. Please back up the outstanding results of Margot and the
others recently by getting the Party name and logo on every ballot paper next
spring. Make it the launch pad for the Euro elections a year later and the
Westminster elections a year after that, 2015.
A final comment. The by-election results
are the best we have recorded and they were in labour areas. We did well not
just by taking Tory and Lib-Dem votes, but Labour also. I am a member of CAEF,
the Campaign Against Euro Federalism which is rooted in the Trade Union
movement. Every single one of their sixth monthly magazines carries articles
condemning our EU membership. One of their leading lights is Bob Crow and if
you have heard him speak on the subject he absolutely shreds the EU. Former
Labour Minister Lord Peter Shore, now sadly deceased, was a founder member of
CAEF and I had the privilege of hearing him speak in Cardiff years ago. In a
restrained, controlled way, he too left us in no doubt that the EU was an evil,
secretive organisation to be avoided at all costs.
Old Labour is on our side, but they need
persuading that we are the right vehicle and we won’t do that by just popping
up at General Elections.
Derek Clark MEP
Northampton 2nd Dec 2012.
