UKIP are demanding the local elections in Rotherham are held on the same day as the general election, after Eric Pickles ordered a full local election in May 2016. The election was announced after the borough was taken over by centrally appointed commissioners folliowing a damning report into their failure to deal with child abuse.

But Local UKIP leader Caven Vines called for an election this May, saying: “The whole council needs to be disbanded and the people of Rotherham should be given the immediate opportunity to vote for who they want to lead them moving forward in the wake of the Casey report.”

“Eric Pickles has announced that elections in the town will not be held until 2016. This is simply too late. It is only by giving the people of Rotherham a full say in the future of the town, that we can build the community support that we will need to move forward. What Mr Pickles is suggesting is that the people of Rotherham cannot be trusted to vote for a better future, it is a deriliction of democracy”.

“The simple fact is that Rotherham is in desperate need of direct help and support to deal with this crisis, which deepens with each new report. Labour has failed the people of Rotherham in letting the abuse happen in the first place and then failed them again in the wake of the Jay report, as little direct help has been given to victims. Labour must not be allowed to fail victims and the town again.”

Backing up their local team, a national UKIP spokesman told Breitbart London: ” Everyone agrees the situation in Rotherham is a nightmare and the existing political leadership have to go, UKIP want to know why the people of Rotherham need to wait a year?

“We think it’s time this failing leadership were put before the people, then the matter can be settled. Eric Pickles commissioners are going to leave as soon as a new leadership gets elected, we want to see that done on the same day as the general election.”