Who are we?
Why do we oppose the European Union?
Isn't the European
'parliament' democratically elected?
Wouldn't
Europe be less
stable without the
European Union?
Why do we oppose the Euro?
Why do we oppose the Welsh Assembly?
Won't we be worse off if we leave the
E.U.?
Isn't a federal Europe inevitable?
What can I do to stop this?
Who are we?
The United
Kingdom Independence
Party is a
non-racist,
non-sectarian,
inclusive party,
drawing membership from all
parts of British society. We believe
that Britain should
formally withdraw its membership of the EU and replace it with a trade
agreement, which is what we thought we were signing up for in the first place. This will
enable us to run our
own affairs without
interference from
unelected,
unaccountable bureaucrats in
Brussels and
Strasbourg.
Click
HERE
to read the 2005
general election
manifesto. Get Adobe Reader HERE.
We
believe that the
European Union is
undemocratic and
damaging to
Britain's interests.
In 1975 the British
people voted almost two to
one in favour of our
continued membership
of the Common
Market as it
was then called. They were told that
it was nothing more
than a common
trading agreement
and that it would
not effect Britain's
sovereignty. No
mention was made of the plans for a federal Europe,
even though our
politicians at the
time, most notably Prime
Minister Edward
Heath, knew that
this was the
eventual aim.
For
thirty years
successive
governments have
ignored the views of
the British people
and have taken us
further and further
towards full
integration. Not
only have they
concealed the truth
from us, they have
continually lied in
order to propagate
the myth that E.U.
membership is in our
interests.
Because
of our E.U.
membership we have
lost control of our
fishing industry,
our agriculture, the
ability to give
financial aid to our
industry when it is
required, the ability to control immigration and are subject to over
thirty thousand rules, regulations
and directives which
effect the lives of
every British
citizen.
As
recently as February
2001 Judge Bruce Morgan said in the
famous "Metric
Martyrs" case
that European law
superceded British
law and that Britain
lost its sovereignty
in 1973 [when Britain joined the E.U.]. Britain contributes £20bn per year to the E.U. We recoup £9bn per
year of that in various grants, so our net
contributions to the
E.U. are £11bn per
year. That equates
to £30m per day,
money which could be
put to better use
domestically. Many
will argue that the millions of
pounds we receive in grants
from the E.U. justifies our membership. The
truth is that we are
only getting our own
money back. Even
then we have to
grovel to the E.U.
in order to get it and match it pound for pound with our own money. In short -
we bake the cake and have to fight over the crumbs!
Yes, the European
'parliament' is
democratically elected by the people of Europe. What most people don't know
though, because our politicians and media don't tell them, is that the European
'parliament' has very little, if any,
effective power. No government or cabinet is chosen
from these elected representatives. It follows then that there is no effective
opposition.
The real power lies with the European
Commission. It is they who are responsible for the flood of rules, regulations
and directives spilling out of the E.U. These are then passed to the
'parliament'
to be ratified. So many of these rules, regulations and directives are placed
before the 'parliament' that there is simply not enough time to adequately debate
them all. On one occasion, MEP's were asked to ratify 187 new regulations in
just one hour, and they did! That's less than 20 seconds per regulation. So
within the space of 1 hour, these 187 new regulations became part of the laws of 15 countries without any debate or
amendment.
The
former Commission President, Romano Prodi, once
stated that he would like to see greater use of regulations and less use of
directives. This is because directives
are binding as to
the result to be
achieved but leaves
the member state to
decide on the method
of achieving that
result. Regulations on the other hand
are laid down by the
commission and are
binding and directly
applicable in all member
states. One word crops up consistently in
many of these regulations and directives. that word is 'irrevocable'. Once they
are accepted they are effective in perpetuity. No national government can change
or rescind them. That is undemocratic, and that is why Britain must remove
itself from the E.U.
Many
people believe that
Western Europe has
been free of
conflict since 1945
because of the
creation of the
European Union and
its predecessors.
The politicians of
E.U. countries
continue to peddle
this line in order
to add legitimacy to
their Federalist
dream.
The
truth is that peace
has existed in
Europe primarily
because of NATO. The
countries of Western
Europe, Scandinavia
and North America
signed the North
Atlantic Treaty
whose basic premise
is that attack of
one member nation is
considered as an
attack on them all.
Therefore any nation
or force intent on
attacking a NATO
member would have to
deal with the
military might of
the United States.
One
other point that the
politicians never
explain is just
which European nation do they
think would have
started any conflict
since World War Two.
On
January 1st 2002, 12
of the 15 member
nations of the
European Union
ditched their
national currencies
in favour of the
Euro. They have
taken an irrevocable
step. Their
economies are now in
the hands of the
European Central
Bank in Frankfurt.
The E.C.B. will
dictate to those
nations, their
interest rates,
pensions, borrowing
etc. This means that
individual nations
cannot adjust these
rates when their
economies require
it. They are tied
into "one size
fits all"
policies.
None
of the 12 countries
that joined the Euro
have ever asked
their people whether
they wanted it or
not. Only Denmark and Sweden have ever had referendums on the
Euro and they both rejected it. The
undemocratic nature
of the E.U. means
that the Danes and Swedes can
expect more
referendums until they
vote correctly, i.e.
in favour of the Euro.
The other country not to
join in the first
wave is the United
kingdom.
A
single currency (or European Monetary Union) means a single economy. A single
economy means a single government. A single government means a single United
States of Europe.
You
have been warned!
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In
1997 the Welsh
electorate were
given a referendum
asking whether they
wanted a Welsh
Assembly. Due to a
low turnout, just
25.2% of the
electorate voted in
favour, so it
doesn't exactly have
the overwhelming
support of the Welsh
people. There are three
reasons why UKIP opposes the Welsh Assembly.
The first reason is
that the Welsh Assembly was created as
part of the E.U.'s
plan, in collaboration with
our government, to
set up a system of
regionalised
government. Indeed,
the full title of
the E.U. is
"The European
Union of the
Regions". The
system involves
dividing the present
15 member nations
into 111 regions, 12
of them being in
Britain. Regional
Government has
already been
established in 4
British regions, these
being Wales,
Scotland, Northern
Ireland and London.
England is due to be
split into 8 regions
under this system.
Maps of the regions
published by the E.U.
name only the
regions and make no
mention of England.
Wales is now
officially known as
Region UKL. It is
clear from this
policy that the aim
of the E.U. is
'divide and
conquer'.
The second reason is
that the assembly is an extra unnecessary tier of government. Wales alone has
seen the number of civil servants increase by 3000 since the Assembly opened in
1999. More politicians and more government means that the people are
increasingly moved further away from those in power. This is ironic, as the
Assembly was supposedly set up to bring government closer to the people of
Wales.
The third reason is
that it is quite simply incompetent. The assembly is run by third rate
politicians doing a third rate job. They don't even know how much their new
'ivory tower' in Cardiff Bay will cost. The new assembly building is still just
a very expensive hole in the ground, a hole which has so far cost Welsh
tax-payers £12 million. The present cost of the new building is estimated at
£55 million, but that figure is for the building itself. Fixtures and fittings
are likely to push the price close to £100. Administrative
costs for the assembly have risen from £17 million in 1999 to £80 million in
2002.
Rhodri Morgan's
promised 'bonfire of the quangos' never happened. In fact there are more quangos
in Wales today than when Mr. Morgan made his promise in 1999.
There is a myth that Britain will
lose trade and become isolated if we don't adopt the Euro and become fully
integrated into the European Union. A few facts, however, soon help to dispel
this myth.
Trade
with Europe did not
start fifty years
ago when the concept
of a united Europe
was first envisaged.
Goods were crossing
the English Channel
even before the
Romans arrived. The
E.U. didn't invent
it.
Britain imports more from other E.U.
nations than we export to them. Are we supposed to believe that these nations
will 'cut off their nose to spite their face' if we withdraw our E.U. membership. Will
Germany stop sending us their cars, will wine no longer come from France, will
other goods stop coming from Spain, Italy or Greece etc. Of course they won't.
This of course works both ways, so they will continue to buy our goods.
Some say that jobs will be lost if we
withdraw. In fact, just 9% of British jobs are directly linked to trade with
the E.U. The truth is that thousands of jobs have been lost
because of
E.U.
policies. Jobs have disappeared from the fishing industry due to crippling
regulation and the loss of our fishing grounds to other E.U. nations, notably
Spain. Thousands of jobs have
disappeared from the motor industry because E.U. regulations prevented our
government providing financial aid when it was required. The agricultural
industry is in tatters because of the Common Agriculture
Policy which is
heavily biased
towards continental
farmers, most
notably, the French. When Foot and
Mouth Disease broke out in Britain in February 2001, vaccination of animals was
prevented by E.U. policies.
Our government now
has to get
permission from the
E.U. to give
financial aid to our
farmers. We import 20% of our milk from France while our
dairy farmers literally pour milk down the drain because their yield exceeds
their quota.
The truth is that E.U. membership is
not necessary to trade with it. Norway and Switzerland, two countries immersed
geographically but not politically within the E.U. enjoy trade with it. Indeed,
they are both prosperous countries due, in no small part, to being able to run
their own affairs.
We trade with the
United States, but
no-one is suggesting
that we have to
become the 51st
state in order to do
so. Perhaps, though, the one fact that really blows the myth is
that Mexico has a free trade agreement with the E.U. So if a non E.U. country on
the other side of the world can have this, why does anyone believe that Britain
cannot.
Finally, few people are aware that
there is a precedent for leaving the
E.U. In Greenland's 1972 referendum, a
majority voted against joining the
E.U. but owing to the election result in
Denmark, Greenland ended up joining the Common Market. For a people whose
economy and entire survival is inextricably
linked with the resources of the
sea, it was untenable to have all administration managed from Europe. This
groundswell of opinion generated a movement against
E.U. membership and on
February 1st 1985 - after the home rule system had been established - a
referendum released Greenland from E.U. membership.
A federal Europe is not inevitable. The
countries of continental Europe have always had closer cultural and political
ties with each other than they have had with Britain. Federalism,
therefore, is probably easier for those countries to accept, and represents less
change socially and politically. We don't oppose a federal Europe, just
Britain's place in it.
Britain's membership of a federal
Europe certainly isn't inevitable if the
British electorate
reject those
politicians who
persist with the
notion that E.U.
membership is in our
best interests. At
the present time, no
British government
is bound by the
decisions of its
predecessors. Our Parliament simply has to repeal the 1972 European Communities Act
and it's subsequent amendments.
This would enable us to determine our own destiny, and put British governance
back where it belongs - in the hands of the British people.
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Join The United
Kingdom Independence
Party and campaign
for Britain's
withdrawal from the
E.U. To join the party click HERE.