Letters – Correcting yet more tired Labour spin
Dear Editor,
Labour Councillors Lambert and Stockdale stated in the Journal (5/1/15)
that they do not believe in negative campaigning – yet in the same letter
launched into precisely that kind of negative tirade against UKIP.
They claimed we want to charge people to use the NHS. As my last column
in the Journal demonstrated, this is untrue. Our Policies for People document
states “UKIP will ensure the NHS is free at the point of delivery and time of
need for all UK residents.”
They claimed that we want to tax families to fund millionaires – another
lie; in fact we would take those on the minimum wage completely out of tax,
scrap the bedroom tax and set up a Treasury Commission to ensure big business
pay their fair share.
Their ‘no negative campaigning’ extends to attacking Nigel Farage’s
‘expenses’. Actually, the figure refers to allowances. Over a fifteen year
period, Nigel has employed staff, maintained a constituency office and travelled
to France and Belgium every month just like any other MEP. This costs money; it
costs money for all MEPs – and yes, there are parts of the system which aren’t
right. That’s what I stand against in the Budget and Budgetary Control
Committees, why I tabled amendments to the EU budget to change the system. But
ultimately if they don’t like their taxes subsidising the unfair EU system, the
logical answer is to support UKIP and get us out of this unreformable
mess.
The answer to their tired old allegations against Nigel Farage was
already in the public domain. So is the answer to their accusations on policy.
UKIP’s Policies for People document is not hidden; it is in plain view on our
website (it’s actually the top link) for all to see – readers can check for
themselves whether the Labour councillors’ attacks are accurate or not. Finding
out what we actually stand for would have taken up just a few minutes of Lambert
and Stockdale’s time but instead they chose to resort to smear.
Isn’t this kind of distortion and disingenuousness from Labour exactly
what gives politicians a bad name? How often do you hear people say “I don’t
trust politicians”? We’re supposed to be working for the future of our country;
Lambert and Stockdale would do well to remember that instead of using a style
that would be more suited to a Punch and Judy show.
Jonathan Arnott MEP
UKIP, North East
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