UKIP leader Gerard Batten MEP, spoke to Young Independence, UKIP's youth wing, at the 'Young Independence Conference' in Worcester on Saturday, 10th November 2018. Attendance at the event was excellent, almost a full house.
He told the audience he wants to reduce the annual UKIP membership fee, which is currently £30.00 per year, and introduce an optional monthly membership subscription.
When he took over the party leadership in April this year, UKIP had about 18,000 members, it now has approximately 23,600 members. With UKIP's new populist policies, outlined in their new Manifesto, and the mess Theresa May has made of Brexit, Batten thinks UKIP's membership could rise to 100,000 members or more.
At the next General Election, he said UKIP intends to target marginal seats held by Remain supporting MPs, whose constituents voted overwhelmingly for Brexit. Clearly these MPs are not truly representing their constituents. The MP Anna Soubry, the MP for Broxtowe in Nottinghamshire, is a prime example. Broxtowe voted 54.6% to 45.4% in favour of Leave in the EU Referendum and yet she is doing everything in her power to get Brexit reversed. In the 2017 General Election, Soubry had a majority of only 863 votes.
Batten said he will soon be speaking to the UKIP NEC to organise a ballot among the members on whether to allow Tommy Robinson to join the party. This announcement received loud applause.
