Breitbart London Editor in Chief and UKIP leadership contender Raheem Kassam launched his policy platform for the party on Sunday. Writing for Leave.EU, he articulates his concerns and vision for the party.
UKIP is not just relevant, it is desperately needed. There, I said it. Sorry to those in the mainstream media pontificating over us but the rumours of our death are great exaggerated!
But UKIP does need a reboot. A refresh. It is currently not kitted out to run 21st century election campaigns and as Nigel Farage’s former chief advisor, I of all people know that best.
Nigel of course, is an outstanding leader, a Briton that will truly go down in history as one of the greats, and has left enormous shoes to fill.
And to fill them, we don’t need a reluctant leader who hums and haws over decisions, and fails to grasp the nettle.
We don’t need a BBC-friendly candidate, or a PR personality. We need a do-er. We need a risk taker. We need someone with radical ideas who won’t stop working for the membership and for our great nation.
That’s why today I’m launching my policy platform, and I can confirm that I have enough signatures to enter the race to be UKIP leader.
And this isn’t a wishy-washy “we need to unite” manifesto… though there is that too! This is a vision for the long term future of the party and the country.
To paraphrase Ronald Reagan: “Our people look for a cause to believe in. It is another party we need, or is a new and revitalised party, raising a banner of no pale pastels, but bold colours which make it unmistakably clear where we stand on all of the issues troubling the people?”
As part of my platform, I have detailed plans I’m splitting into two categories: FOR UKIP, and FOR BRITAIN.
FOR UKIP:
I have pledged 100,000 members for the party by 2020. It’s an ambitious target but I think we can do it. I mean for Pete’s sake the Greens have 55,000 members! It’s embarrassing that we have fallen by the wayside with just 30,000 members.
I want major party democracy change to put major decision making powers back in the hands of members, but also to make our party the most transparent in the country.
We need to keep Nigel Farage involved, too. There’s no point in denying we need him, and anyone who turns their back on him and his legacy has no place being leader, thats why my first action in office will be to appoint Mr. Farage an honorary president for life of UKIP.
And the party needs a digital revolution! Don’t worry, I’ll stay off Tinder. But we haven’t embraced new technologies to get our message out there and it’s time for drastic change in this area.
Our branches are not given the right resources and with an increased fund from increased memberships, we can make sure we have the assets on hand to fight everything from town and council by-elections to the General Election in 2020.
And I want to reward and train our youth wing, Young Independence. It’s a shame that these guys and girls are only given £5,000 to get their messages out to universities across the country. That needs to change. They are our future and they will build this party going forward.
FOR BRITAIN:
There is so much to discuss here. Just because Theresa May offers us some platitudes, we cannot be seen to take her at her word. How did that work out with Mr. Cameron?
First of all, Brexit must mean REAL BREXIT – not a half measure (we don’t do half measures in UKIP!) That’s why we need this party to stick around and scrutinise the deal. Frankly, we’re the only way she’ll repeal the 72 Communities Act if Article 50 flops.
And we need someone who can tackle the rise of radical Islam. I was raised a Muslim, though I am not practicing anymore, but that gives me the authority to demand action in this area. And I mean REAL action. I want a national referendum on banning the niqab. I want to stop foreign funding of religious institutions. I want to make sure halal meat is clearly labelled and that stunning happens before slaughter, and I want to make it clear to Muslim communities in Britain that these policies HELP them. We want to stop their sons and daughters being radicalised and shipped off to Syria and we need a tough approach to combat that.
I want a commitment from the government to not send British servicemen and women into war zones unless there is a clear British interest at stake. I want Marine A to be freed, and I want an audit of the Ministry of Defence which I believe is wasting so much money we could be spending kitting out our troops and serving our veterans properly.
We need to scrap our foreign aid target, and be clear that our NHS is a national health service not an international health service. And we desperately need to get British history back onto the curriculums in our schools.
On taxes, I think we should be championing flatter, simpler taxation and helping those at the bottom first. And I want to invest more in mental health funding, oppose political correctness and multiculturalism, review the BBC and cut it in half, scrapping the licence fee along the way.
Finally, I think it is imperative that we open up a debate about the corporatist, monopolistic rail franchises in this country, and indeed urge the government to reopen technical schools and end the nonsensical notion that everyone must go to university and come out saddled with debts and no job.
These are just the starting points of where I want to take UKIP, and I hope you’ll join me at www.makeukipgreatagain.com to sign up, donate, and find out more about our campaign.
Together, we can make UKIP great again!
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