MIGHt I congratulate Councillor Whitehead on his first foray into your letters page since his election. He might have chosen a subject where he was on safer ground.
Since I was elected in 2014, Ukip locally has been in the business of showing that it could operate in Local Government as well as, if not better than, the other parties who seemed to have got bogged down in complacency, arrogance or just going through the motions.
Given that in two short years from a standing start we have gone from zero to five councillors, we are on the way to doing just that and are in a good position and in good heart to do even better in 2018 and beyond.
It is true that we didn’t win in Hulton but equally, we probably won’t win in Bradshaw or several other wards in the near future. As far as the EU referendum is concerned, we have always acknowledged that there were more people in Bolton likely to vote ‘Leave’ than vote for UKIP but facts are facts. ‘Leave’ won and ‘Remain’ lost. Get over it.
I think that most people accept that without Nigel Farage and UKIP there wouldn’t have been a referendum, so forgive us for being rather pleased with the result. I must make it clear that the ‘Vote Leave’ campaign, populated mainly by MPs, was not UKIP’s campaign. In fact Nigel was excluded from their campaign.
UKIP’s position was clear. From the net UK contribution of £8.5b currently spent by the EU building bridges in Bulgaria and the like, we would, should and could put an extra £3b a year into the NHS. The £350m a week for the NHS was Vote Leave’s – not ours.
Once the Brexit negotiations are complete, it will be down to the government of the day to decide how to spend this money.
The present uncertainty is about the trade off between trade and border control. It would be a brave politician who attempted to water down the public’s desire for migration to be controlled and this must be at the forefront of the minds of Conservative Party members who will choose the new PM.
As far as the Danish newspaper is concerned, I’m doing a follow up article post the referendum result. If Councillor Whitehead can think of something sensible to say, I will be happy to include his thoughts in the article.
Councillor Paul Richardson
Chairman of Bolton UKIP
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