“STOP FARAGE” CAMPAIGN IS LAUNCHED

A campaign has been launched to stop UKIP leader Nigel Farage being elected as MP for Thanet South.

Thanet Stand Up To UKIP is a broadbased campaign supported by trade unions, local people, Labour and the Green Party, LGBT and disabled activists.

The campaign has been launched even though UKIP hasn’t officially announced Farage is standing,

Campaign coordinator Bunny La Roche said: “Local UKIP activists have said Farage is on the shortlist and that means he’s bound to be chosen to run for Thanet South.” 

Bunny continued: “We are dismayed that Nigel Farage is on the selection shortlist for south Thanet.  Farage is part of the establishment - a hard-right Tory.  He tries to present himself as the man of the people, he's not.

“He will only look after the interests of his class - the rich and powerful. That's why he's happy to make deals with the Tories. He has nothing to offer people of Thanet, except hatred, racism and bigotry. “

As evidence of what it claims is Farage’s “racist” attitude, the campaign is pointing to a report written by 18 year old Thanet resident Sula Shephard which appeared in the Independent  on Sunday newspaper.

"I intend to study politics at university,” Sula wrote in the newspaper, “so, before the European elections, when Farage held a rally in Margate, my friend and I went to hear what he had to say, away from the media spotlight.

“Naively, we believed that it would be an open meeting and that other non-Ukippers would have come to hear him, but we seemed to be the only two there.

“Surrounded by mainly middle-aged, white men and a few women, we felt out of place. But we became even more uncomfortable when Farage finally took to the stage. The standing ovations were so unsettling that we wanted the floor to open up and swallow us. Strangely, his racist remark about not wanting to live next door to Romanians, which he had publicly explained away as being down to ‘tiredness’ was repeated during the rally, eliciting another ovation."

Thanet Stand Up To UKIP, said Bunny, will be campaigning to try to stop Farage getting elected, by asking people to use their vote to stop Farage'.

Added Bunny: “We will be holding meetings, producing publications, and organising protests. We will also be involved in some fantastic cultural events to get our message across south Thanet, until Election Day in 2015.”

People are asked to contact Stand up to UKIP on thanetsutu@gmail.com  if they want to get involved.