UKIP leader Gerard Batten talks about Tommy Robinson, Brexit betrayal, UKIP and being labelled 'far-right.'
Video published by UKIP Wigan on Youtube
Quote:
"Tommy Robinson is not far right. If he was I wouldn't be standing on this platform with him and I wouldn't have had anything to do with him. Tommy would be the first to tell you that he's not a Saint, but neither is he the demon that the mainstream media and political opponents have painted him to be. I have associated with Tommy and I have defended him for a very good reason, because it's the morally right thing to do.
"Today, if you think that your country should be governed by its own democratically elected parliament in accordance with its own laws, traditions and constitution, that makes you far right. If you think that immigration should be controlled, that makes you far right and xenophobic. If you think that you are not too keen on fundamentalist and literalist Islamic practices growing in your country, that makes you a Nazi. None of those things are true. They mean you are a patriot who wants to live in your own country in peace with your fellow citizens, under your own laws, your own constitution and your own democratic government.
"Today we are supposed to leave the European Union and we have been betrayed. There will be more betrayals as we go along. Today was either going to be a celebration or a protest, it's both. First of all we celebrated the fact we achieved a referendum and we voted to leave. And it's a protest at what those people over there have done with the people's decision.
"Let's remember something. When UKIP was formed all those years ago, Plan A was to have a patriotic government that took us out of the European Union under its own steam. Plan B was to have a referendum. Of course under our first past the post electoral system, UKIP didn't manage to win seats in Parliament in order to bring about Plan A. But we did achieve a sufficient electoral threat to achieve Plan B and we had a referendum, which as I have just said to you, has been betrayed. We now have to go back to Plan A; we have to build up the electoral threat; we have to get MPs elected; we have to make them do what they are supposed to do under common decency and democratic accountability.
"You can either live on your knees in the European Union or you can live on your feet outside it."
