At last - today i joined ukip.

[Jmack]

Perhaps you can find some pieces with as many as 71% who want to stay.

 

You don't think anti-EU writers would reference polls which make their point. If you poll 100 OAP's from upper ramsbottom you'll get a biased result. The people from the CBI believe that the EU is a good thing, maybe you should think about that.

[SevenRivers]

UKIP keep getting caught sleeping on the job. That's when they actually turn up at all.

 

And on the rare occasion they actually do attend a meeting, with their "Europe is bad" attitude, do you not think that will affect how the other MEPs - elected in order to move the EU forward - will act towards them?

 

UKIP being elected to the European parliament does nothing toward their end-game result of leaving the EU. All they can do is cost us money and waste other people's time, resulting in a worsening state of affairs.

 

I have no problem with people voting UKIP in elections that they can actually effect - general elections mainly - but it's a waste of time, effort and money putting these people in an office they publicly state they do not believe should exist.

 

UKIP MEPs attend debates in the chamber and put forward the opinions which they think is in the best interest of the UK, which may involve disagreement with other MEPs, but will sometimes align with other MEPs from other countries. Shock horror! People disagreeing, people representing their own national interests, isn't that what EU parliamentary debates are for?

[retep]

You don't think anti-EU writers would reference polls which make their point. If you poll 100 OAP's from upper ramsbottom you'll get a biased result. The people from the CBI believe that the EU is a good thing, maybe you should think about that.

 

A growing number in Camerloons party are after a get out, and even the CBI want reform.

[Jmack]

A growing number in Camerloons party are after a get out, and even the CBI want reform.

 

Reform not out. There is a difference.

[dosxuk]

Perhaps you can find some pieces with as many as 71% who want to stay.

 

Actually, that 71% figure relates to joining the EFTA. There's no information on how the people who were asked that question were selected - it isn't itself a question about leaving the EU.

 

UKIP MEPs attend debates in the chamber and put forward the opinions which they think is in the best interest of the UK, which may involve disagreement with other MEPs, but will sometimes align with other MEPs from other countries. Shock horror! People disagreeing, people representing their own national interests, isn't that what EU parliamentary debates are for?

 

Yes, that's exactly what they're for, so why do our paid representatives who happen to be members of UKIP keep getting caught sleeping or missing those debates?

 

And then there's the question of whether they're acting in the best interests of the UK, or of their party? Suppose the hypothetical debate of whether to grant the UK free entry to the EU, but prevents them leaving for 10 years - does a UKIP MEP vote yes - because it will save the country a heap mountain of cash with no real downsides, or no, because it would effectively end the existence of UKIP?

[retep]

Actually, that 71% figure relates to joining the EFTA. There's no information on how the people who were asked that question were selected - it isn't itself a question about leaving the EU.

 

 

 

Yes, that's exactly what they're for, so why do our paid representatives who happen to be members of UKIP keep getting caught sleeping or missing those debates?

 

And then there's the question of whether they're acting in the best interests of the UK, or of their party? Suppose the hypothetical debate of whether to grant the UK free entry to the EU, but prevents them leaving for 10 years - does a UKIP MEP vote yes - because it will save the country a heap mountain of cash with no real downsides, or no, because it would effectively end the existence of UKIP?

 

"Bruges Group/Survation opinion poll: 71% would leave the EU and join EFTA

This 71% (compared with just 29% that wanted the UK to stay in the EU) gained support from across the political spectrum. When compiled by voting intentions, the results showed that 81% of Conservatives, 54% of Labour, 50% of the Lib Dems and 95% of UKIP preferred EFTA over the EU."

http://www.betteroffout.net/bruges-groupsurvation-opinion-poll-71-want-to-join-efta/

[SevenRivers]

Actually, that 71% figure relates to joining the EFTA. There's no information on how the people who were asked that question were selected - it isn't itself a question about leaving the EU.

 

 

 

Yes, that's exactly what they're for, so why do our paid representatives who happen to be members of UKIP keep getting caught sleeping or missing those debates?

 

And then there's the question of whether they're acting in the best interests of the UK, or of their party? Suppose the hypothetical debate of whether to grant the UK free entry to the EU, but prevents them leaving for 10 years - does a UKIP MEP vote yes - because it will save the country a heap mountain of cash with no real downsides, or no, because it would effectively end the existence of UKIP?

 

Would you care to count how many votes our Nige cast today?

 

http://www.votewatch.eu/en/nigel-farage.html

 

I make it 46.

[dosxuk]

Would you care to count how many votes our Nige cast today?

 

http://www.votewatch.eu/en/nigel-farage.html

 

I make it 46.

 

And yet he's ranked 758/844 in terms of participation in votes. Go Nige!

 

To put that in perspective, Nick Griffin has participated in nearly double the number of votes than Nige. The only worse responding MEPs are both UKIP representatives. Surprise, surprise

[LeMaquis]

"Bruges Group/Survation opinion poll: 71% would leave the EU and join EFTA

 

If the UK left the EU and joined EFTA we'd have to renegotiate all our trading relationships with the EU. We could either join the EEA and in so doing readopt most existing EU law or we could be like Switzerland and negotiate bi-laterally with the EU. If we chose the latter it would take years and we'd have a weak hand as it would be in our interest to do things as quickly as possible, something the EU could exploit.

 

---------- Post added 14-01-2014 at 19:24 ----------

 

And yet he's ranked 758/844 in terms of participation in votes. Go Nige!

 

To be fair to our Nige he has to appear on Question Time a lot and he does like to spend a lot of time at the Tory Party conference, even more time than he spends at the UKIP conference.

[dosxuk]

"Bruges Group/Survation opinion poll: 71% would leave the EU and join EFTA

This 71% (compared with just 29% that wanted the UK to stay in the EU) gained support from across the political spectrum. When compiled by voting intentions, the results showed that 81% of Conservatives, 54% of Labour, 50% of the Lib Dems and 95% of UKIP preferred EFTA over the EU."

http://www.betteroffout.net/bruges-groupsurvation-opinion-poll-71-want-to-join-efta/

 

Here's the actual question (and result):

 

The opinion poll was carried out by Survation on 3rd July 2013, with 1,085 respondents, with a 3% margin of error. The question asked was:

 

“The European Economic Area (EEA) is the single market that allows for free movement of goods, services, people and capital between all participating European countries.

 

There are two organisations which allow countries to access this EEA single market – the European Union (EU) and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). The UK could remain a member of the single market if it left the EU and joined the EFTA.

 

Unlike the EU, the EFTA does not involve itself in countries’ agriculture, fisheries, home affairs or justice policies, and allows countries to negotiate free trade agreements with any outside countries. The UK would have to adopt 60% fewer regulations and pay around £3bn less in budget contributions if it was in the EFTA instead of the EU, but would have less power to influence the rules of the single market.

 

“With this in mind, which would you prefer the UK to be a member of?”

 

Of those surveyed, a clear 54.3% said that Britain would be better off as a member of the trade group EFTA, as opposed to 22.2% thought Britain should remain a member of the EU. 23.5% said they were ‘Don’t Knows’.

 

When the don’t knows are excluded this leaves the figures of 71% and 29%.

 

So nobody was asked whether we should leave the EU.

 

And I wouldn't exactly class the question as non-biased. And even then, only just over 50% supported the premise.