Heswall – Tories 1254 (59 pc), Ukip – 460 (21.5 pc) labour 289 (13.5 pc) Greens 110 (5.2 pc) and trade unions and socialists against the cuts -19 (1pc)

Thats an 8.5% swing from Tory to Ukip. Tory share was 63% last May.

Heswall – total votes 2135 and turnout 19.7 %.

An early Christmas get together is being held by the Wirral branch later this month.

Why not come along, whichever branch you are from, and feel free to bring non-members along too?

The buffet lunch is being held at the Hooton Hotel, Hooton, Wirra, CH66 7NL  – which is known for its great food – from 1 pm on Saturday, November 24 and amazingly the tickets are only £7.50 each.

There will be a chance to win prizes in a raffle and just generally let your hair down (if the EU hasn’t made you tear it all out!!) and get in the Christmas mood with kindred spirits.

The hotel is right next door to Hooton station, which is ideal as the premises has a good range of wines and beers.

Anyone interested, and why wouldn’t you be, should contact Nick Lacey for tickets asap as he has to give the hotel an idea of numbers attending.

Nick Lacey  0151 355 4485  /  077 88 17 143  /  nfnpa@live.com

New Warrington Branch

Congratulations to James Ashington on the formation of our new Warrington Branch. This is the result of James’s determination and persistence and we wish him well with what will become a branch with a huge influence in our region. James is an inspiration to those of you who are considering forming branches in your areas and those of you who are in the fledgling stages. It is essential we build our branch network as we run into the next Euro elections and a General Election the following year. With strong pro active branches we get our message across and increase our vote.

Good Luck Warrington

Fred McGlade

The shortlist for the 2013 Nobel Prize

The Chef out of the Muppets
The Pilot of the Enola Gay
President Assad of Syria
Tony Blair

Any offers?

Fred McGlade

A one-day Autumn rally is being held in Liverpool on Saturday November 3.

There will be a full line-up of great speakers for the day which will include UKIP Leader Nigel Farage, Deputy Leader Paul Nuttall, Roger Helmer, the party’s energy spokesman, Jon Gaunt, media personality, John Whittaker, former NW MEP and Christopher Monckton, Leader Scotland UKIP.

This important event will be held at The Britannia Adelphi Hotel, Ranelagh Place, Liverpool L3 5UL and tickets priced at £10 are available from the Lancaster Office, as are £15 tickets for the Leader’s Lunch.

The venue is only a five minute walk from Lime Street station and as this promises to be a lively, exciting and enlightening event, book now to avoid disappointment.

Contact the Lancaster office on 0800 107 0304 for tickets

I am pleased to announce that we will be holding a one-day Autumn rally on Saturday November 3rd

There will be a full line-up of great speakers for the day which will include: Nigel Farage, Roger Helmer, Paul Nuttall and Christopher Monckton. A full list will be announced in the near future.

The event will be held at The Britannia Adelphi Hotel, Ranelagh Place, Liverpool L3 5UL.

Entrance is by ticket only at £10 each available from the Lancaster Office. Call 0800 107 0304

This promises to be a lively , exciting and enlightening event, so book now to avoid disappointment

Phil Griffiths, North West Regional Chairman

On Thursday 12th July I travelled to London with representatives of Furness Opposes Biomass, a local pressure group and the main organised opposition to the proposed Centrica wood-burning biomass power station at Roosecote.

The purpose of the visit was to present, at 10 Downing Street, a petition of an unprecedented 14,000+ signatures from local people who are opposed to the construction of this plant.

(L to R) Kevin Booth, Dennis Yates, Scott Symon. NM, Ray Guselli, Ken Williams, Dave Salt

We left Barrow at 07:30, quick change at Lancaster, and then a swift train into Euston, where we arrived at 11:10. It was nice to be back in the capital. I lived and worked there for many years and in a certain respect it was rather like coming home.

With Emilia Hanna in the Quaker Centre

First port of call was a meeting in the Quaker Centre on Euston Road with Emilia Hanna from Biofuelwatch. I experience a certain level of discomfort I have to admit when I am finding common ground (as a UKIP activist) with environmental campaigners such as Emilia. That aside, we must always do what is right and this certainly is. If it means that Biofuelwatch and Friends of the Earth stand shoulder to shoulder with UKIP as the strangest of bedfellows then so be it. I am certain the feeling is mutual.

Emilia told us that in all her time supporting campaigns like ours around the UK there has never been such a huge public outcry, never such a large number of signatures to a petition and never a petition handed in to Downing Street. It made us feel like we were definitely breaking new ground and paving the way for others.

Councillor Williams decided that the weather was so good, we should walk to Downing Street. I was all for the tube but the majority fancied the stroll and I went along with it. I suspect that they were feeling less enthusiastic for exercise when we finally emerged into Trafalgar Square and an agreement was made to definitely get the tube back later.

So we headed down Whitehall, passing all the ministries and fighting our way through crowds of tourists, finally reaching Downing Street and negotiating an earlier hand-in with the armed police guarding our PM’s residence. Our slot was originally 3pm but they had a word and we were duly permitted entry.

Myself, Cllr Ray Guselli, Cllr Ken Williams, Scott Symon, Dennis Yates and NW Evening Mail political correspondent Gareth Jones (The sixth member of our party, FOB member Dave Salt, remained at the gates) were then led into an airport-style security check with metal detector and x-ray of course and through the other side we met with the police officer on door-duty to talk about what would happen. This was about 10 yards down from the house itself.

He explained that the usual thing was to pose for pictures outside, then knock on the door, hand in the petition and photograph the handover and this is precisely what we did, although not so smoothly as it appears. You have to remember that 10 Downing Street is a busy front door with a large workforce. We had to step aside several times to allow people entry or egress from the building.

It is a strange feeling to stand on that iconic doorstep. The place where every Prime Minister in living memory has stood and greeted the waiting world following election. The heart of UK politics. That said I soon got a grip and remembered that the party of bad ideas was at work behind me and that an expression of stern disapproval would be most fitting.

When it was all done we headed for the Houses of Parliament and the nearest pub. Our relaxation was then interrupted by a telephone call from Granada Reports who had turned up to film the event and do an interview. They made do with interviewing Cllr Guselli and filming us walking to the gate and handing over some rolled up paper. Shame they never told us they were coming actually because they could have actually filmed the petition handover at the door. Never mind though – the report appeared later that night and it’s the story that counts.

Our seats were booked for the return trip, which was just as swift, getting us back to Barrow for about 10:15 at night. It was a great day and an important gesture to make. It keeps the anti-biomass story going and shows those small but noisy few who sneer at our cause that we will not go away and that we are determined to succeed.

Noel Matthews @uknoel

Cumbria County Chairman

Now is the time for a referendum!

The most important issue that the UK faces is our membership of the European Union. That dictates our future and, therefore, has a direct consequence on our daily lives, our business and our economy. In fact basically everything we do.

Successive governments have said it is in our best interests to remain in the EU, but have failed to explain the so-called benefits that we gain by our membership. Why?

They defend it by arguing that it allows access to the single market. In fact that works against business because of the increase in regulations and endless directives, such as health and safety, that we have to abide by.

The fact is the remaining in the EU is holding us back/ More than 90% of the world’s population live in countries outside the EU and if we were no longer members, the EU would account for less than 20% of world output.

Far from being isolated and losing three million jobs, as we constantly being told, we would be free to make our own trade agreements around the globe with our other Commonwealth partners as well as China, Brazil and other countries whose economies are growing. By doing so we would create jobs and assure our prosperity.

Like UKIP, a majority of the electorate now recognise what we are fighting for and want a say in their future.

We want a referendum and we want it now.

Please join us in our fight for our independence.

Philip Griffiths

North West Regional Chairman

UKIP Wirral is deeply saddened at the death of Bill Duffey, who joined the Party two and a half years ago.

News of his death came as a terrible shock and he will be greatly missed. After joining our branch he became not only an invaluable member always prepared to go that extra mile but more importantly a much valued and loved friend.

His knowledge on matters political was impressive, as was his fund of anecdotes following his action-packed life. Bill always enjoyed sharing a joke over a pint in the pub and as well as his political astuteness it was his down-to-earth humour and the twinkle in his eye that endeared him to so many.

Despite his advancing years and a recent hip replacement he spent many hours during this May’s local elections tramping the streets in support of UKIP, whose views he wholeheartedly espoused.

Personally, in the time I got to know Bill I found him to be a loyal, reliable friend and brilliant company.  A true gentlemen and I will miss him dearly.

Phil Griffiths, chairman of UKIP North West and UKIP Wirral

June 22 2012

Eddie Haughan

Thanks and congratulations to Eddie Haughan for holding third place for UKIP in the Harraby by-election in Carlisle.

The full result and a small analysis below

Turnout was probably around the 20-25% mark. Tories and Lib Dems showing the most significant drops on last month. It’s a safe Labour seat but thanks to Mike Owen, Eddie of course and the Carlisle team on the effort

Noel Matthews, Cumbria Chairman