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Lord Pearson stands down as Party Leader 17 Aug 10
Lord Pearson took over as leader of UKIP last year to see the party through the General Election, and said he would then consider the situation. UKIP increased its votes by 50% on previous general election, and have many exciting plans for the future.

He says "It is right that I should stand down on September 2nd, early in the Parliament, to give a younger leader time to be established before the next election, which may come sooner than we think. There is no shortage of talent in UKIP, and the new leader will have my full support. I will continue to do what I can to raise funds for the party and be active in the House of Lords.

UKIP has never been more important for our freedom as a self-governing democracy. We have a coalition government which supports every new power grab by Brussels: supervision of our financial services; an EU diplomatic corps; new police and surveillance powers; bailing out the folly that is the euro."

Continental police handover 'a disgrace' 30 July 10
UKIP have taken the Government to task over its handover of power to Continental police. It is disgraceful that our Home Secretary, Teresa May, has committed Britain to join the European Investigation Order without proper debate. This action is a basic threat to our civil liberties. It allows foreign police forces to demand action from British police forces - irrespective of britiah law.
"What is more, as this is a draft agreement, we will not be able to decide the final arrangement, and due to the Lisbon Treaty, when the final version comes out, it will be voted on under Qualified Majority Voting at the European Council and thus Britain will not be able to block it" said UKIP Leader, Lord Pearson.

UKIP push for inquiry into cost of EU. 22 July 10
Lord Pearson has introduced a Private Member's Bill calling for a public inquiry into the cost to the UK of its EU membership.

The European Union Membership (Economic Implications) Bill will first be debated in the House of Lords and asks that a committee of inquiry be established to explore the economic implications of membership of the EU, and to determine the impact costs and other public expenditure in the the UK as a result of our membership of the EU.

The Bill had its first reading on Tuesday 20th July and a date is yet to be set for its second reading but you can keep up-to-date with its progress here.

VAT rise to 20% could easily be avoided. 23 Jun 10
Lord Pearson has hit out at the Government's planned VAT rise to 20%, pointing out that withdrawing from the EU political union would save the UK billions every year.

"I don't think that the increase in VAT protects the most vulnerable. It clearly doesn't, as it applies across the board," Lord Pearson said. "It would be entirely unnecessary if we weren't sending about 10 billion pounds a year in cash to be wasted on French cows and 2,000 highly paid eurocrats."

The tax rise is due to come into effect on 4th January 2011, hitting those on very low incomes hardest. Retailers are also likely to suffer, as a consequence of higher VAT, from a depression in sales at that time.

Tories backtrack on Human Rights Act. 19 May 10
Now the Con-Dem's have formed a coalition government, the Tories have decided to sell out on their promise to the electorate to tear up the Human Rights Act, even while two suspected Al Qaeda terrorists who planned to murder innocent civilians use it to halt a deportation order.

It has never been clearer that the Act places the rights of criminals above the rights of victims and law-abiding members of the public. Yet despite the evidence staring them in the face, Tory policy makers have dropped their plans to scrap the misguided law in their desperate attempts to cosy up to the Lib Dems.

Gerard Batten MEP, UKIP’s Justice spokesman, says it is particularly absurd that the Human Rights Act is even preventing the West from working with Pakistan in the fight against terrorism. "The Human Rights Act now prevents us from effectively dealing with and protecting ourselves from foreign criminals and terrorists and yet the Conservative Party has predictably reneged on their pledge to repeal it" he said.

Read about how the Tories are selling out on policy commitments

Britain's EU membership fee soars, with little in return. 25 Mar 10
The cost to Britain of remaining in the EU has risen to £6.4bn this year – more than twice the membership fee from 2008/09 and £800m more than Alistair Darling accounted for in the 2009 budget.

The new figures came to light in Treasury documents published following the budget this month. The numbers show that European Union coffers continue to grow healthily, even while the single currency falters and member states endure the most torrid financial times in living memory.

Mats Persson, a spokesman for the Open Europe think tank, said: "It's extraordinary that when virtually every single government in Europe is forced to cut its public expenditure the EU sees fit to increase its own. "The UK’s contribution keeps on going up at a time when every penny counts." Surely we can think of better ways to spend these billions, especially during the worst recession for a generation?

UK drivers to foot bill for EU green tax. 6 Mar 10
Motorists in surrey heath and beyond could soon be paying higher petrol prices thanks to an EU green tax due to be formally announced later this month.
The newly-appointed European commissioner for taxation, told European Voice, the weekly Brussels newsletter, that a direct tax on carbon is still a priority even after EU tried and failed to enforce a £9-a-tonne levy on CO2 in 2005.
The proposed new levy is especially worrying as it would be the first tax to bypass completely the governments of member states, with the money instead going directly to Brussels.
The flat-rate tax will be a particular burden to poorer consumers who will be forced into spending a larger proportion of their income on energy and fuel bills. Open Europe estimates that British businesses and consumers will be landed with a bill in excess of £3.2bn a year. Small businesses will also be hit hard, with a disproportional burden.
Meanwhile, the flawed science of man made climate change is increasingly becoming apparent.

UKIP stands firm on Greece rescue. 11 Feb 10
UKIP has demanded that Gordon Brown must not donate UK taxpayers' hard-earned cash for somebody else's failed political project.
Nigel Farage MEP said: "The Greek financial crisis is a crisis created by the EU and the creation of the Euro. In no way should the British taxpayer be hammered to pay for it.
Gordon Brown is preparing to throw our money down an Athens financial sewer just to look good in the eyes of France and Germany.

UKIP in attack over European Arrest Warrant 20 Jan 10
UKIP MEPs William Dartmouth and Gerard Batten question Graham Watson (Lib Dem) on the role of the European Arrest Warrant, particularly its effect on three of their constituents.
See video of the debate here.

Lord Pearson in the Express 5 Dec 09
At midnight on Monday 1st Dec, Britain ceased to be a sovereign nation in full charge of its own destiny. That is when the fully ratified Lisbon Treaty came into effect, giving Brussels the ability to accrue new powers over our lives whenever it feels like it. writes UKIP Leader Lord Pearson in the Daily Express (4 Dec 09)

This betrayal of 1,000 years of British history was planned and implemented by a Labour regime that promised voters a referendum in order to keep the issue of Europe out of the last general election but cynically withdrew the offer once that election was won.

But the entire professional political class of this country is culpable. The Liberal Democrats also supported a referendum but would not vote for it in Parliament. Then they moved the goalposts, backing a referendum on “in or out” of the EU. Now they have withdrawn that offer too because they fear the answer they would get.

The Conservatives may have opposed Lisbon in Parliament but once it had been ratified their “cast-iron” promise of a referendum was withdrawn as well. Cameron let matters rest because keeping in with the European elite mattered more to him than defending British sovereignty.
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Tories want to "increase our EU contribution".
The Conservative Party has confessed it would be prepared to increase Britain's overall financial contributions to the European Union even further, in return for cutting European farm subsidies, just days after it was revealed that recent EU membership costs on the UK had increased to reach £45million a day.

More on these and on other UKIP stories