"We seek an amicable divorce from the
European Union and its replacement with a genuine free trade agreement
- which is what we were told we signed up to in the first place."
The
UK Independence Party began its Salisbury activities in 1994. It
formed a small working committee, and two years later rented offices in
the centre of Salisbury. In the 1997 General Election, UKIP candidate
Nigel Farage (pictured) polled 3500 votes, and retained his deposit.
In the 1999 euro-election, UKIP returned three MEPs, who worked hard to expose all the malpractices which government from Strasbourg involves.
In the 2004 euro-election 8,327 people voted for UKIP in Salisbury District (Thank you!) putting the Lib-Dems and Labour into third and fourth place. Salisbury's choice helped UKIP return 22.56% of the vote plus two MEP's from South West England. In total, 12 UKIP MEP's were returned from the UK.
If nothing else, such support forced the BBC to separate UKIP from the 'Others' in their election broadcasts.
This has given the Salisbury branch of UKIP sufficient confidence that we have decided we can field a candidate in the next Parliamentary Elections.
We will of course be playing our part in the european constitution campaign and in the shall-we-join-the-euro referendum, if ever Blair decides to uphold his promise and call one.
People DO see UKIP as a viable political alternative.
To be continued ...