UKIP slammed by Labour's Paul Brannen
MEP.
UKIP’s policies are not anti-charity!
I’ve just been elected for the UK Independence Party as a member of the
European Parliament. I’ve done voluntary and charitable work for a number of
years, from setting up a charity working with disadvantaged young people to
hospital radio broadcasting which I’ve done since I was 15.
I’ve fundraised for charities, worked on both a voluntary and paid basis
delivering council holiday sports schemes for children and young people. I
donate to several charities. My wife and I sponsor children in the developing
world.
So when Labour’s “Why is the sector keeping quiet on UKIP?”
I’m bemused. Perhaps I’m supposed to oppose myself. Brannen claims flat tax,
overseas aid and climate change as reasons for the third sector to oppose
UKIP.
UKIP’s support for a flat tax (which is in any case under review)
included a tax threshold helping the poorest by taking anyone working on minimum
wage for a standard working week out of taxation altogether. It helps to close
tax loopholes, ensuring the very rich can’t avoid their obligations.
UKIP believes overseas aid should be reserved for genuine emergencies.
Money shouldn’t prop up despotic regimes. Mismanaged aid can create reliance and
becomes counterproductive. The solution lies in bringing down trade barriers
(remember Oxfam has repeatedly criticised the EU for its “double standards”) and
providing a genuine helping hand.
Unilateral action on climate change has pushed energy prices up, could
lead to power blackouts as early as next year and leaves millions (mainly
pensioners) in fuel poverty, choosing between heating and eating. Meanwhile,
every year China’s emissions increase by more than the entire UK
output.
Paul Brannen has spent years working for . They do much good work but I wonder how
representative it is. Their chief executive rather a different
world to what most third sector workers recognise. They receive tens of millions
of pounds of taxpayer funding, and EU funding – from our taxes, with strings
attached – including the expectation that the EU will be praised. No wonder he’s
attacking UKIP.
We’ve both recently been elected as MEPs for North East England and
demonstrated commitment to the third sector, him in a paid management role and
me working at grassroots level. We should put political differences aside to
support charity, but sadly Paul Brannen uses his position to try to turn the
third sector against anyone of my affiliation.
Jonathan Arnott is the newly-elected UKIP MEP for the North
East
Well okay, Mr B - but THIS response should make you much
more wary about wild attacks in future!
http://guest.thirdsector.co.uk/2014/06/17/ukips-policies-are-not-anti-charity-2
