Guest columnist: Not racists, not fascists, not little Englanders, UKIP just wants to see Britain put first

Unfortunately, for the victims of terrorist attacks, they will remember Christmas for all the wrong reasons, sadly.

We have seen the world of politics, both here and in the United States, turned completely on its head because the electorate have voted with their feet, made their mark and said ‘we have had enough of being ignored, we voted you into your positions and we demand you start listening to us.’

I was never a political animal until February 2013, when I joined UKIP.

I had listened to members of other parties and the media criticising them and Nigel Farage, and calling them racists, fascists and little Englanders.

But then looked a little further into what their views were and they were similar to mine.

With regards to being racist, we are not, but merely said that immigration need controlling.

It is out of hand and even German leader Angela Merkel, the great exponent of ‘freedom of movement’ has admitted she has got it totally wrong.

With regards to being fascists we do not hate other people and their religions and are quite happy for them to practice their faiths in this country.

But we are not prepared to accept their extreme views when they try to change our way of life.

Finally, we are not little Englanders and wish to remain friends and trade with Europe.

But we also the rest of the world with a ‘free trade agreement’.

We also believe that we should control our own laws, our own borders and generally run our country for what is best for Britain and its people.

Up to and during the referendum, in June, we campaigned in Worksop and Retford with street stalls and people were coming up to us to talk, rather than us chasing them.

And we must have done something right because the ‘Leave’ vote in Bassetlaw was a staggering 67 per cent.

This was despite all the scaremongering from David Cameron, George Osborne and the like that the ‘world would collapse, we would be infested by a plague of locusts and other disasters.

It didn’t happen.

The pound initially dropped slightly in value (it was over-valued anyway) but it has bounced back again as have the world stock markets.

We will not see great changes in our dealings with Europe, we will deal with each other but on a sensible, commercial and business-like footing and not one controlled by egotistical Eurocrats.

I dealt have with European bus and coach manufactures for the last 30 years, it worked well then and will continue to do so.

The big change that needs to happen in 2017 is the care and welfare system and the crisis-ridden NHS.

We shall have more money to spend on these once we are out of the EU but we should not be cutting funding so much as looking at wastage, such as being over-charged by drug companies and nobody ever taking them to task and making sure the ’health tourists’ pay for their treatment, as we would have to in another country.

The other change that the Government needs to make is to cut the ridiculous foreign aid budget and make the people in charge more accountable as to how they spend the money.

It is obscene that councils are looking to cut the meals on wheels service when we give money to Africa to support their ‘Spice Girls’ group

And why are we still giving money to other spurious projects in countries who are wealthier than us?

All I, and the other members of Bassetlaw UKIP want, is for the Government to put us, the British People and their welfare first.

We are a great country, we have a great future outside of being controlled by Brussels.

Countries around the world can’t wait to get trading agreements with us, but we can’t do it whilst we are in the Single Market.

So come on you Brits, fly the flag, be proud of our heritage and our history and put the Great back into Great Britain.