Somerset Labour today reveals the true face of UKIP. We report on appalling racist comments made by council candidates in Wells and Bridgwater. Their comments show that UKIP is a party that attracts people from the darkest side of the far right.
Racist?
Errol Chandler is a senior figure in UKIP. He is the membership secretary in the Wells constituency and a candidate in the council elections next month. This is what he said, in a comment thread below an MNS News story on a fraud case:
This UKIP candidate said: “you know what they say about Asians, if their lips are moving they ARE lying. About Nigerians the saying is if they are breathing they ARE lying”
The item below was screenshot today-so clearly no attempt to hide it (and presumably not ‘hacked’)
Sid Lukins is standing in Bridgwater for a seat on Sedgemoor council. On his Facebook page, he has posted material from the fascist group “Britain First.” And he has crudely expressed his own racist views.
This UKIP candidate said: “The word nigger is now and has always was a part of our language”
Islamophobic?
Questions about UKIP’s view on the far right go further up the Somerset party hierarchy. Helen Hims, UKIP parliamentary candidates for Wells has been criticised for retweeting messages about right wing marches in Germany, which said “Growing anti-Muslim marches….. excellent!” and “Germany is waking up, are we?” She said that retweets are not an endorsement and described the claim she is Islamophobic as wrong.
Read the full article here.
UKIP is a party that seems to attract racists. In Somerset and elsewhere in England, UKIP candidates have been shown to have views that can have no place in civilised political debate. Over past decades, the left has confronted and defeated the threat from the National Front and the BNP. We must do the same with UKIP.
There were over 4,000 votes for BNP in Somerset & WsM in 2010; we can see where those voters have ended up by the blatant racist garbage spewed by Chandler and Co representing UKIP