Anthony Butcher

A lot of people. In the general election I had someone spit the word 'racist' at me in the street, along with others saying similar things. A chap I went skiing with assumed that I was a racist because I was a UKIP member, even though he had already spent several days with me. I don't talk about UKIP so much with people any more, but when I did, there was very often an assumption that it was BNP-lite.

I find it more surprising that you think that UKIP doesn't have a racist reputation.

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RTSTN

Are some of the posters on this thread saying that immigration is just about numbers?

For instant if half a million native Brits leave but are replaced by half million say for instant Africans, no problem?

Anthony Butcher

Nothing at all. A newspaper is free to report whatever it likes - indeed that is its purpose. Statements of fact have little impact on their reputation.

But it is entirely different to UKIP cherry picking stories which it clearly intends to use to make a point. UKIP is deliberately associating itself with the title of the story "Ethnic minorities now a fifth of pupils". The only conceivable purpose is to infer that UKIP denounces this and would do something about it. Whether you interpret that to mean that it is anti-immigration or anti-ethnic minorities is subjective, which it shouldn't be.

What's more, UKIP explicitly states that it isn't anti-immigration and would allow roughtly 300,000 immigrants into the country per year to maintain zero net immigration, so the inference is that it is anti ethnic minorities.

I know that UKIP isn't racist - and it is an accusation I have defended it against many times - but even I am sitting here questioning why they would do this kind of thing.

I am not a member any more, but if I was I would be very concerned about this kind of thing with a general election looming. In my opinion it is just the same old amateur antics that are a gift to the party's critics.

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Britannist

It seems to me that some people can't argue with the policies of UKIP so just throw insults.

I hope that no one in UKIP is intimidated by europhiles or leftists who behave in the way the person described above did.

tito

I'm not saying that I'm not concerned over immigration. But this is a very borderline article, and the fact that there is no comment by UKIP, just a reproduced article, seems to be calling to the BNP-lite type people, without actually saying anything that the press might construe as racist.
This is bad in two ways, firstly it might seem appealing to people that really won't help us, secondly it is more tiptoeing around immigration.
Immigration in its present form is a disaster, UKIP should not care less what the media thinks if we so so.

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Anthony Butcher

I think that the problem is that they don't know what the policies are - they just have a somewhat racist brand in their minds. And this kind of silliness from UKIP only serves to reinforce that.

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Anthony Butcher

I just asked my other half for an unprompted opinion and she said that it "looks like something you would get on the BNP website".

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Britannist

The purpose of UKIP quoting from the report is the same as that of the Telegraph in publishing it - it is news based on recent statistics connected to the matter of immigration which is an issue with millions of voters (including those in urban areas who are finding it harder to get jobs or access to public services because of the huge influx over the last decade).

I notice from the UKIP website that the party quotes briefly from the Telegraph but makes no comment on the article itself.

Hardly a crime.

Did UKIP ask for the statistics themselves? No. Did UKIP ask for them to be published? No. Is the report in the Telegraph about something UKIP has said on this matter? No.

Britannist

People do not join UKIP because of immigration or matters connected to it - people join the party because it is anti-EU.

If UKIP is talking about immigration it is because it has been forced by public opinion to do so. Labour have helped make the issue go mainstream by giving UK passports to one million foreigners in the last decade; by doing nothing to end EU control of our borders (i.e. up to one million east europeans here) and by failing to control the influx of illegal immigrants.

Britannist

I can't see how the press can construe any racism on the part of UKIP in quoting the article on the website - any more than the press can accuse the Telegraph of being racist for publishing the report.

A larger UK population swelled by immigration means more public money has to be put into public services; it results in housing shortages and it puts pressure on public transport and roads. And more people means more carbon emissions. In other words, immigration (except those who come here and benefit the UK economy and put in more than they take out) can cost the British people (including minorities in the British population who came here generations ago and who have never claimed benefits) a great deal of money.

I wonder how many illegal immigrants and/or the offspring from illegal immigrants in our country are using UK public services at out expense? Migrationwatch approached this matter only the other week and implied that the cost of this will rise.