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UKIP leader has good impression of Southport - Southport Visiter

UKIP leader has good impression of Southport
Oct 3 2008 by John Siddle, Southport Visiter

IT is somewhat surprising that Nigel Farage has such a good impression of Southport.

Swamped by downpours and forceful winds on a flying - pardon the pun - visit to the resort on Tuesday, the UK Independence Party leader also saw Southport’s not-so-sunny side at the rainswept Open in July.

Nevertheless, the UKIP MEP was so impressed with the town’s regeneration that he is set to bring the party’s annual conference to Southport Convention Centre next year.

“We’ve been talking about it for a couple of weeks now,” Mr Farage told the Visiter. “We’re looking at Bournemouth and a couple of other places, but Southport ranks very high on our list of runners and riders.

“It has a good new conference centre and seaside resorts always make good venues. We are certainly considering it.”

Mr Farage’s whistlestop tour in the town was to promote local boy Paul Nuttall, UKIP’s North West candidate in next June’s Euro-elections.

Mr Nuttall, 31, from Bootle, came first in the party's North West poll and finished second in local elections in Derby ward in May, taking 38% of the vote.

The pair visited local radio station Dune 107.9 and mixed with residents in pubs including the Bold Hotel, Lord Street.

Mr Farage said: ““There’s been an awful lot of politics in the news recently; party conferences, credit crunch, the financial markets, and the next test of public opinion is the EU election, which a lot of people don’t realise.

“This is why we’re here, to raise awareness of the elections and to introduce Paul to people. He is a very bright boy who has come from a working-class background, certainly unlike a lot of other politicians.”

According to UKIP, “two-thirds” of Southport residents would prefer a change in Britain’s relationship with the EU, despite nearly £1billion from Brussels helping to pay countless projects in the town, including the Marine Way Bridge and Chapel Street pedestrianisation.

Mr Farage insisted the funding, named Objective One, was “not as good a deal as it looks”.

“It’s our money,” he said, “and even then we have to match the funding. We plough money into the European Union and only get a portion of it back. Objective One is not as brilliant as it looks.

“Most Southport residents, like many across England, want a different relationship with EU, one of friendship and a Free Trade Agreement, but where no laws are made.

“Over seventy per cent of our laws come from Brussels and I think most people would say that’s too high.”