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Post by Admin on Nov 28, 2014 22:38:15 GMT
British prime minister David Cameron is to impose major curbs on the rights of citizens from other European Union states to claim welfare benefits – but most changes will require other EU states’ agreement. Delivering his long-awaited speech on immigration, Mr Cameron sought to heed the clamour in Britain to curb the numbers coming in – 280,000 this year, the highest for decades. Equally, however, the he emphasised the contribution made by existing immigrants and their value to society and the economy, and said the UK’s strength is its open economy. Under his plan, EU migrants would not qualify for welfare benefits given to low-pay workers – worth up to £700 a month for two-child families – twice the sum paid in Germany and three times the French level. Meanwhile, immigrants would be barred from claiming benefits for their children if their offspring continued to live in their home countries. Equally, they would be barred from getting council houses for four years. They would be ordered to quit the UK after six months if they have not found work, while fraudsters and beggars would face longer bars from coming back. Changes can be made to British welfare rules, Mr Cameron believes, without running foul of EU discrimination rules because the UK is planning to change its entire system. Under the plans, which have faced mounting IT and other difficulties, the unwieldy list of existing benefits will be replaced by one universal credit, so new qualifying rules can be set from the off without breaching rules.
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Post by Admin on Apr 25, 2015 21:19:20 GMT
Nigel Farage has said ‘terrible’ shoulder and back pain meant he was not ‘firing on all cylinders’ during the early weeks of the election campaign. The Ukip leader revealed he was suffering after a flare-up of an old spinal injury and was prescribed strong sleeping pills and muscle relaxants. Mr Farage was dogged by speculation that he was ill during the early weeks of the campaign but said he was not unwell, but suffering from neuralgic pain. The 51 year-old told the Daily Telegraph he has been receiving private hospital treatment in London and had been prescribed the sleeping drug Temazepam. He said he may need medical treatment for the rest of his life. Mr Farage told the newspaper: ‘I was not unwell, I have not had heart palpitations, but I was getting increasingly terrible pain in my shoulder, my back, and so I was suffering from neuralgic pain. ‘I am taking a few tablets but it is something I have got to live with, and I have got to pace myself. ‘I think I am going to have medical treatment for the rest of my life.’ But Mr Farage admitted he had not been following his doctor’s orders to the letter, leaving him seeming under par in the opening weeks of Ukip’s campaign. He told BBC News: ‘I’ve not been doing physio. I’ve not been doing my exercises. ‘I’ve been so obsessed with the Ukip campaign that I put myself into a position where I wasn’t really firing on all cylinders.’
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Post by Admin on May 9, 2015 21:04:10 GMT
Charismatic leader of Ukip Nigel Farage has stood down after his party returned just one MP to Westminster in the General Election - and it was not him. Mr Farage insisted he has "never felt happier", with a "weight lifted off his shoulders", after finishing as runner-up in Thanet South. The Ukip leader, who vowed to resign as Ukip leader if he failed to enter the Commons, polled 16,026 votes. But Conservative Craig Mackinlay did better, winning the backing of 18,838, with Labour third. He also joked that compared with the last election - when he was in intensive care following an air crash - he felt "pretty good". Speaking as he resigned as the party leader Mr Farage said that after a summer off he may well consider running for leader again. I said as this campaign went on that if I didn't win I would stand down as leader of Ukip. I am a man of my word, I don't break my word. So I shall be writing to the Ukip national executive in the next few minutes saying that I am standing down as leader of Ukip. I intend to take the summer off, enjoy myself a little bit not do very much politics at all. There will be a leadership election for the next leader of Ukip in September and I will consider over the course of this summer whether to put my name forward to do that job again. – NIGEL FARAGE Douglas Carswell held on in Clacton but his fellow Tory defector Mark Reckless was ousted in Rochester and Strood. In Clacton Mr Carswell saw his majority was cut from more than 12,000 at last year's by-election to 3,547.
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Post by Admin on May 11, 2015 20:51:12 GMT
We knew Nigel Farage was odds-on to be next Ukip leader. But we didn’t think his political comeback would be this quick. Ukip announced on Monday that Nigel Farage’s resignation has been rejected by his party - which means he remains leader of Ukip. Ukip chairman Steve Crowther said in a statement: Farage had promised to stand down as Ukip leader if he did not win his bid to gain a seat in South Thanet in Thursday’s general election, and made his bid for resignation on Friday. “The consequences of me failing to secure a seat for myself in the Commons would be significant for both myself and the party,” he said in his book The Purple Revolution, which was recently serialised in the Telegraph. “It is frankly just not credible for me to continue to lead the party without a Westminster seat. “What credibility would Ukip have in the Commons if others had to enunciate party policy in Parliament and the party leader was only allowed in as a guest? Was I supposed to brief Ukip policy from the Westminster Arms? No - if I fail to win South Thanet, it is curtains for me. I will have to step down.”
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Post by Admin on May 12, 2015 20:57:45 GMT
Nigel Farage has suggested he could contest a by-election in a Labour-held seat after deciding to stay on as UKIP leader. Mr Farage had promised to quit if he failed to win a seat at the general election, but had his resignation rejected by his party. He told BBC Radio 5 live: "I would look forward to a by-election in a Labour seat very much indeed." He also said he had sat in a "darkened room" before deciding to continue. Mr Farage failed to be elected in South Thanet, losing out to the Conservative candidate. He had said he would be "for the chop" if he lost out. Speaking to the BBC at the European Parliament in Brussels, he said he had kept his word but was "persuaded to change his mind" by "overwhelming support" from UKIP's National Executive Committee. "I resigned. I said I'd resign. I turned up to the NEC meeting with letter in hand fully intending to carry that through," he said. "They unanimously said they didn't want me to do that, they presented me with petitions, signatures, statements from candidates saying it would be a bad thing for UKIP. "So I left the meeting, went and sat in darkened room to think about what to do, and decided for the interest of the party I would accept their kind offer for me to stay and tear up the letter." Mr Farage also said UKIP's "greatest potential" was among Labour voters in the Midlands and the north of England.
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