MAY I be allowed to respond to Neil Derbyshire, Chairman of the North West Lib Dems following his recent, pathetic attempt to discredit the UK Independence Party (UKIP)?
His previous failure earlier this year obviously still rankles and he is taking anothe stab at it.
An intelligent person would double-check the facts before going to print, not so the Lib Dems!
Nor do they understand that this juvenille Yah Boo stuff so beloved by politicians is a big turnoff for the electorate.
In the spirit of the coming festive season though, it would be churlish of us not to reply.
Yes, we had three MEPs following the Euro elections.
More than one million people voted for us and the North West narrowly missed having a UKIP MEP
by as many votes as Chris Davies scraped home with for the Lib Dems.
Yes, we now only have two MEPs due to the ill health of our former leader.
The Home Office is dragging its heels over which procedure to follow with regard to our claim on the seat.
Why is that not a surprise? The racist slur is utter nonsense.
It is the tool used by our opponents unable to produce convincing or coherent reasons for us to remain in the EU.
We are a moderate, non-sectarian party dedicated to returning self-government to Britain and power to the British electorate.
There is nothing dangerous or extreme in that!
The British National Party also stood in the Preston by-election.
The GPO refused to deliver their literature due to its racist nature (two other parties also advocated withdrawl from the EU). Why has Mr Derbyshire picked on us for special treatment?
Because we pose the greatest threat to the main parties.
We have over 200 branches in the country with new ones opening each week.
Preston has a branch opening soon.
What IS dangerous is voter apathy.
Are the three main political parties proud of the mere 29 per cent of 72,000 electors in Preston who turned out to vote?
The Lib Dems polled 3,000 fewer votes than at the general election.
Was that voter apathy or the negative publicity generated by their MEP -- who by the way has just cancelled a public debate in Southport?
Running scared of the failing Euro perhaps?
Our MEPs work extremely hard and DO make speeches in Brussels and Strasbourg.
Val Cowell, UK Independence Party, Northwood Way, Poulton-le-Fylde
Anyone with access to the internet can read their speeches made to the European Parliaments on our website www.ukip.org
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