The prospective UKIP Parliamentary candidate for Rochford and Southend East, James Moyies, has spoken to CouncilBust.com about his views on the European Parliament elections.
Of his own party’s success in winning two seats in the Eastern Region, Mr Moyies said: “The Eastern Region are delighted that we came second nationally and in the region.
“We also maintained the United Kingdom Independence Party’s representation from the East within the European Union.
“David Campbell-Bannerman the Deputy Leader of the party is joined by Stuart Agnew (a Suffolk Farmer) as new members of Parliament.”
Mr Moyies, however, said that a number of technicalities prevented UKIP from gaining more votes:
“We are disappointed at the lost votes up north due to steam folded ballot papers and to the misleading use of the name UK First party by the one man and his dog chap in our region.
“This deception took many votes away in Rochford and Southend and up to 38,185 in the Eastern region.”
This, Mr Moyies believes, allowed the BNP to gain its first ever two seats in any parliament, in the North West and Yorkshire and Humber. Despite claims from various sources that there is a link between the BNP and UKIP, Mr Moyies expressed dismay at the BNP’s sudden propulsion into elected seats:
“Nationally our biggest disappointment was not getting the few extra votes in the North West that would have kept Nick Griffin of the BNP out of the Parliament.
“People laughed at the folded paper complaint but who would be laughing if it was such a mistake that gave BNP a seat in Europe.”
This aside, Mr Moyies gave an optimistic view of UKIP’s role in representing the UK to Europe, saying:
“In the years ahead our MEPs will provide information on the activities of the European Union and inform us when law that affects our country is being implemented.
“They will fight to ensure Britain’s interests are not ignored and will keep a close financial watch on the EU’s activities.
“[UKIP MEPs] have pledged to be visible within the region and connect with the electorate as much as geography allows.
“UKIP want to have a referendum on the European Union and we would campaign to leave the institution returning all government power to the UK.”
Further, Mr Moyies believes that UKIP’s successes in the EU elections will put the party in a better position for the upcoming General Election.
“This great result allows us to build for the General election and communicate our domestic policies to the electorate,” he explained.
“In Rochford and Southend UKIP got more votes than Labour and Lib Dems combined.”
Labour scored 5,420 votes in the area, whilst the Liberal Democrats scored 7,158; UKIP took 14,033, a sizeable victory over the two left parties, but the Conservatives secured almost double that again with 20,021.
“This puts us in the position of being the only challenger to the sitting Conservative members,” Mr Moyies went on.
“We expect Labour voters to turn to us and will be aiming to persuade BNP voters that they have made an error of judgement and should vote for a non racist party.
“My platform will be: ‘read our common sense policies and if you agree with them; vote for UKIP. If not, find a party that better fits your beliefs.’
“There will be no pandering or confusion to try to keep everyone happy and con people into voting for me.
“It’s time for new Politics. It’s time for a clean start.”
