Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage laid down the law to representatives of other political parties in a Sunday election debate, slamming “liberal elite” weakness and demanding serious action against radical Islamic terrorists.
“Well, we all express our condolences, but nobody apologises, apologises for the fact the liberal elite have given us a ridiculous sentencing system,” Farage began when the subject of the London Bridge terror attack by freed terrorist Usman Khan was raised at the ITV debate between representatives of the Brexit Party, Conservative Party, Labour, Liberal Democrats, Scottish National Party (SNP), Greens, and Welsh separatist Plaid Cymru.
“I don’t care if these people were in jail for six years or twelve years — if you have committed mass murder, or planned to commit mass murder, you’re not just an ordinary criminal: you’ve got the virus of jihadism,” Farage continued.
“And I think these people should never, ever be let out of prison, unless we’re absolutely convinced they do not have the jihadi virus — but, of course, political correctness stops us from doing this,” he lamented.
Leftist politicians on the panel offered little but platitudes on the subject of sentencing, warning against “draconian” or “knee-jerk” responses to the latest terrorist atrocity, while Rishi Sunak, representing the Conservative party, stressed Boris Johnson’s pledge to end the practice of releasing serious criminals on licence halfway through their terms automatically — but Farage was implacable.
“[T]hat won’t stop them reoffending,” he said bluntly
“There are 74 convicted terrorists out on our streets [on early release licences]; there are 400 returning jihadi fighters on our streets who’ve come back from Syria — surely whether they serve six years or twelve years isn’t the point. Why should they ever be let out again into society?” he demanded.
“Well, our plan is for them to serve the full mandatory term,” Sunak repeated woodenly, and blamed European Human Court of Human Rights rulings for the government’s inability to sentence terrorists to potentially indefinite custodial terms.
“Is anyone else on the platform concerned there are 74 convicted terrorists out on our streets, and 400 returning jihadis? Do we just ignore it and pretend it’s going to go away?” Farage asked.
“This is not just an ordinary criminal. These people want to destroy our civilisation. Surely they should be put in prison for life?” he asked, looking around the stage to the other party representatives for a response — and receiving none.
“Silence,” he observed, pointedly.
The veteran Brexit campaigners found himself as the odd man out on many issues during the debate, which he characteristed as a “contest to see who can be the most politically correct”.
On immigration, only Sunak made any sort of nod to brining it under control — although non-EU immigration is rising at present — while the leftist debate participants all praised it.
“The population of our country has riusen by 8 million since Tony Blair came to power in 1997,” Farage pointed out.
“You can argue about people coming and working hard in coffe shops and all the rest of it, [but] the fact is this massive increase in population has made our access to public services difficult, has compressed people’s wages, and not improved our quality of life”, he continued, adding that he had “no confidence that anybody here wants to reduce the numbers.”
His indignant rivals resorted to the mass migration advocate’s most common gambit of suggesting the National Health Service (NHS) would collapse without importing migrant workers — although only a very small proportion of migrants perform NHS-related work — but Farage retorted that “we should train our own people” instead.
Farage also defied the consensus on the fashionable issue of climate change: “Everybody here agree on climate change — I’ve got a slight issue with that”, he said.
“What we’re doing is putting a lot of people out of work and making the poor give lots of money to the rich. Yes, we want to clean the planet, but I don’t think the way we’re doing it is right,” he explained, prompting splutters of indignation from his more left-leaning rivals
“Just look at what’s happened. I mean, since we’ve started putting in place green policies — amd this country’s done it worse than any other country — we’ve finished up with electricity prices 60 per cent higher than most of our European competitors… We’ve done it through green taxes, and guess who pays?” he asked rhetorically, noting that average families are being hammered while “rich landowners” rake in massive subsidies through renewable energy boondoggles.
Questioned on his friendship with U.S. President Trump, who has been used as something of a whipping boy by British leftists during the general election campaign, and on Trump administration policies such as the so-called “Muslim ban”, Farage pointed out that it was his much-admired predecessor Barack Obama who drew up the list of countries on ban list, to remarkably little criticism
“Donald Trump’s style is very American. It may not be to everyone’s taste… but he is our most important friend in the world, and at a time of huge global uncertainty we should think about not just trade with America, but security, making sure NATO is not destroyed by the European Union, these things really matter,” he said.
He added that “the biggest lie” of the campaign was that “Trump wants to buy the NHS” — which has been a constant refrain from Labour and other leftist parties despite having little basis in reality.
Jo Swinson, the fanatically anti-Brexit leader of the Liberal Democrats, attempted to press Farage on years-old taped recordings of the President, in which she dubiously claimed that he “boasted about sexually assaulting woman”.
Farage said the comments were “crass” and “wrong” but that “men say dreadful things sometimes” — triggering howls of outrage.
“I’m sure you’ve lived the purest life of anybody and never said anything wrong about anyone anywhere,” Farage responded sarcastically, holding his ground.
Finally, on the interminable question of Brexit, the MEP was less vociferous on the issue of Boris Johnson’s proposed withdrawal treaty with the European Union than in the past, reiterating that it would cause “years of misery” if the United Kingdom was stuck in it but adding that, if Johnson kept his word on using it as a launchpad for a Canda-style trade agreement, the country would eventually get “something like Brexit”.
“I want us to become an independent country, to leave the European Euopean Union — there’s a bigger, more exciting world out there. Our friends in the Commonwealth, America — there’s so much we can do!” he said, focusing on the upsides of the British people’s vote to Leave the European Union in 2016.
“But what I’ve seen tonight, there’s no desire to change anything,” he added sadly, with the Conservative platform being milquetoast and the leftists all keen to force the public to vote on Breixt a second time or, in Jo Swinson’s case, to simply cancel Brexit altogether.
“Most of Westminster don’t accept the result of the people,” he explained.
“Loser’s consent is the principle by which civilised democracies work: you fight elections, [and if] you lose them, you accept the result. That is how our system works… [but] you don’t accept the result, and now you want a second referendum just to give even more division and acrimony in the country — and I’ve no doubt that when we vote to leave again by an even bigger margin, you still wouldn’t accept it,” he said to his anti-Brexit rivals.
Farage suggested that what Britain really needs after December is “fresh, strong, non-PC voices in the House of Commons” to challenge the political orthodoxy.
He also teased Nicola Sturgeon, leader of the left-separatist SNP which wants Scotland to break away from Brexit Britain in order to renew its fealty to the EU.
“Brexit is going to give us independence. I thought you liked independence?” he cheekily observed.
“We’re going to be a free nation; we can make our own laws, catch our own fish… you can’t be independent and be in the EU,” he said, leaving the Scottish secessionist seething.
He also took Adam Price, the leader of the Welsh separatist Plaid Cymru party which is also loyal to the EU, to task, noting that Brexit can be an opportunity for to invest in the Welsh steel industry — which is very difficult while subject to EU competition and state aid regulations — and reclaim its EU-controlled fishing waters, creating and preserving much-needed jobs.
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