UKIP members hit back at media slurs
Today leading members of UKIP including Steven Woolfe UKIP's Economics Spokesman, Amjad Bashir UKIP's Small Business Spokesman, Winston McKenzie UKIP's Commonwealth Spokesman and Andrew Charalambous UKIP's Housing Spokesman have the lead letter in The Independent we publish their letter below:
We are UKIP members, candidates, spokespersons and representatives of the party’s broad range of supporters from minority ethnic and religious backgrounds. We support UKIP’s core values including its zero-tolerance approach to racism and discrimination, and, its commitment to withdrawal from the European Union.
We are deeply concerned about what appears to be a concerted effort by the media to misrepresent UKIP’s policy on immigration and to portray the party and its members as racist or xenophobic.
We have not faced discrimination within the party and we actively support the party’s practice of taking disciplinary action against any member who behaves in a discriminatory manner. UKIP has dealt rapidly with the small number of cases where such behaviour has taken place and has sent out a strong message that it will not be tolerated.
UKIP believes that immigration should be controlled by the UK government and not the EU. Migrants of all origins should have the right to apply to live and work in the UK and be entitled to equality of treatment secured by a points-based system without positive discrimination for those from EU member states. UKIP has never sought to abolish immigration, encourage repatriation, apportion blame or attack migrants or their families.
Increasingly UKIP members are becoming subject to physical and verbal abuse. Members from minority backgrounds who have faced genuine racist abuse are now abused by our opponents. Many have also suffered the humiliation of being called “Uncle Toms” or apologists for a racist party. This level of abuse is unacceptable in a modern democracy. We call on all those who wish to have a mature debate on immigration to cease perpetuating the falsehood that UKIP is “racist”, its members “xenophobic”. We demand opponents no longer engage in physical or verbal abuse and support UKIP in fighting to rid politics of racism, discrimination and sectarianism.
SIGNED
Steven Woolfe, UKIP Economics Spokesman
Amjad Bashir, UKIP Small Business Spokesman
Winston McKenzie, UKIP Commonwealth Spokesman
Andrew Charalambous, UKIP Housing Spokesman
Shneur Odze, UKIP North West MEP Candidate
Dr Raj Chandran, Candidate Gedling and ex Commissioner Racial Equality Commission
Pastor Annette, Reid UKIP Candidate (Croydon North)
Rachel Hunte, UKIP Candidate (Croydon North)
Marilyn Jeffrey, UKIP Candidate (Croydon North)
Jenefer Parke-Blair, UKIP Candidate (Croydon North)
Herman Lyken, UKIP Candidate (Croydon North)
Winston Kennedy, UKIP Candidate (Croydon North)
Rathy Alargaratnam, UKIP Candidate (Morden)
Maxine Spencer, UKIP Candidate (Holborn and Islington)
Emmanuel Ehirim, UKIP Candidate (Croydon North)
Pastor Marjorie King, UKIP Candidate (Croydon North)
Przemek Skwirczynski, Chairman Friends of Poland in UKIP and candidate (Croydon North)
Tomasz Zajaczkowski, Secretary Friends of Poland in UKIP and candidate
Julian Conway, Chairman Friends of Israel in UKIP
Peter Redstone, Chairman UKIP in Israel
Lee Waters, Chairman Gedling (UKIP Anglo – Italian Friends)
Francois Loi, Vice Chairman Gedling (UKIP Anglo – Italian Friends)
Dirk Muller, UKIP Candidate (Croydon North) and UKIP Friends of Germany
Ace Nnoram, UKIP candidate ( Croydon )
Pauline McQueen, UKIP Candidate (Tower Hamlets)
Nicholas McQueen, UKIP Candidate (Tower Hamlets)
Annamaria Mignano, UKIP Candidate (Tower Hamlets)
Bertlyn Springer, UKIP Candidate (Tower Hamlets)
Tony Registe, UKIP candidate (Tower Hamlets)
Amir Latif, UKIP candidate (Finchley)
Cllr Tariq Saeed, UKIP councillor (Barking)
Syed Iliyas Hussain, UKIP candidate (Barnet)
Eddie Otoyo, UKIP Candidate ( Lambeth)
Bryan Tomilinson, UKIP candidate (Hilligndon)
Barry Leavers, UKIP Candidate ( Hillingdon)
Ray McKennon, UKIP member (Hillingdon)
Heidi Rao, UKIP member (Hillingdon)
Khalid Khan, UKIP candidate (Barking)
Keith Rowe, Chairman UKIP Birmingham
George Konstandinidis, UKIP Eastern Region Chairman
Stephen Dion, Chairman Telford & Wrekin and candidate (Wolverhampton)
Jehad Soliman, UKIP Branch Secretary Kettering
Ismael Patel, UKIP member – Leicester Branch
Avvar Taggar, UKIP Candidate (Coventry)
Anish Patel, UKIP member
Chris Apostolou, Chairman Barnet Branch
Edmund Silverman, UKIP member Gedling
Mark Davies, UKIP candidate (Manchester)
Thomas Slivnik, MA Cantab, PHD Cantab FTICA UKIP member
We are UKIP members, candidates, spokespersons and representatives of the party’s broad range of supporters from minority ethnic and religious backgrounds. We support UKIP’s core values including its zero-tolerance approach to racism and discrimination, and, its commitment to withdrawal from the European Union.
We are deeply concerned about what appears to be a concerted effort by the media to misrepresent UKIP’s policy on immigration and to portray the party and its members as racist or xenophobic.
We have not faced discrimination within the party and we actively support the party’s practice of taking disciplinary action against any member who behaves in a discriminatory manner. UKIP has dealt rapidly with the small number of cases where such behaviour has taken place and has sent out a strong message that it will not be tolerated.
UKIP believes that immigration should be controlled by the UK government and not the EU. Migrants of all origins should have the right to apply to live and work in the UK and be entitled to equality of treatment secured by a points-based system without positive discrimination for those from EU member states. UKIP has never sought to abolish immigration, encourage repatriation, apportion blame or attack migrants or their families.
Increasingly UKIP members are becoming subject to physical and verbal abuse. Members from minority backgrounds who have faced genuine racist abuse are now abused by our opponents. Many have also suffered the humiliation of being called “Uncle Toms” or apologists for a racist party. This level of abuse is unacceptable in a modern democracy. We call on all those who wish to have a mature debate on immigration to cease perpetuating the falsehood that UKIP is “racist”, its members “xenophobic”. We demand opponents no longer engage in physical or verbal abuse and support UKIP in fighting to rid politics of racism, discrimination and sectarianism.
SIGNED
Steven Woolfe, UKIP Economics Spokesman
Amjad Bashir, UKIP Small Business Spokesman
Winston McKenzie, UKIP Commonwealth Spokesman
Andrew Charalambous, UKIP Housing Spokesman
Shneur Odze, UKIP North West MEP Candidate
Dr Raj Chandran, Candidate Gedling and ex Commissioner Racial Equality Commission
Pastor Annette, Reid UKIP Candidate (Croydon North)
Rachel Hunte, UKIP Candidate (Croydon North)
Marilyn Jeffrey, UKIP Candidate (Croydon North)
Jenefer Parke-Blair, UKIP Candidate (Croydon North)
Herman Lyken, UKIP Candidate (Croydon North)
Winston Kennedy, UKIP Candidate (Croydon North)
Rathy Alargaratnam, UKIP Candidate (Morden)
Maxine Spencer, UKIP Candidate (Holborn and Islington)
Emmanuel Ehirim, UKIP Candidate (Croydon North)
Pastor Marjorie King, UKIP Candidate (Croydon North)
Przemek Skwirczynski, Chairman Friends of Poland in UKIP and candidate (Croydon North)
Tomasz Zajaczkowski, Secretary Friends of Poland in UKIP and candidate
Julian Conway, Chairman Friends of Israel in UKIP
Peter Redstone, Chairman UKIP in Israel
Lee Waters, Chairman Gedling (UKIP Anglo – Italian Friends)
Francois Loi, Vice Chairman Gedling (UKIP Anglo – Italian Friends)
Dirk Muller, UKIP Candidate (Croydon North) and UKIP Friends of Germany
Ace Nnoram, UKIP candidate ( Croydon )
Pauline McQueen, UKIP Candidate (Tower Hamlets)
Nicholas McQueen, UKIP Candidate (Tower Hamlets)
Annamaria Mignano, UKIP Candidate (Tower Hamlets)
Bertlyn Springer, UKIP Candidate (Tower Hamlets)
Tony Registe, UKIP candidate (Tower Hamlets)
Amir Latif, UKIP candidate (Finchley)
Cllr Tariq Saeed, UKIP councillor (Barking)
Syed Iliyas Hussain, UKIP candidate (Barnet)
Eddie Otoyo, UKIP Candidate ( Lambeth)
Bryan Tomilinson, UKIP candidate (Hilligndon)
Barry Leavers, UKIP Candidate ( Hillingdon)
Ray McKennon, UKIP member (Hillingdon)
Heidi Rao, UKIP member (Hillingdon)
Khalid Khan, UKIP candidate (Barking)
Keith Rowe, Chairman UKIP Birmingham
George Konstandinidis, UKIP Eastern Region Chairman
Stephen Dion, Chairman Telford & Wrekin and candidate (Wolverhampton)
Jehad Soliman, UKIP Branch Secretary Kettering
Ismael Patel, UKIP member – Leicester Branch
Avvar Taggar, UKIP Candidate (Coventry)
Anish Patel, UKIP member
Chris Apostolou, Chairman Barnet Branch
Edmund Silverman, UKIP member Gedling
Mark Davies, UKIP candidate (Manchester)
Thomas Slivnik, MA Cantab, PHD Cantab FTICA UKIP member
