UKIP offers shake-up challenge

Oldham West and Royton By Election UKIP Candidate John Bickley

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OLDHAM has been a “one-party state for too long” . . . that’s the view of UKIP’s John Bickley who is on a mission to change that at the Oldham West and Royton by-election on December 3.



The ballot follows the death of long-standing Labour MP Michael Meacher who served the area for 45 years.



In an exclusive interview with the Chronicle, Mr Bickley was asked if he knew Oldham well enough to represent it — and he immediately pointed to Mr Meacher who was also not from the town.



Mr Bickley said: “Mr Meacher was the MP here for 45 years. He was a southerner.



“I’ve been accused by Labour of being parachuted in here, I’m sure Mr Meacher was parachuted in here 45 years ago but he was a southerner who lived most of his life in one of his many houses down south and the people of Oldham accepted him.



“I’m a Mancunian, I don’t think you need to have a taxi driver’s knowledge of a constituency to do a good job for constituents.



“I never expected to be standing as a parliamentary candidate but once you get involved in politics — if you’ve got the commitment — then you end up doing what I’m doing which is sticking your head above the parapet. I’m willing to do that — I think our democracy needs defending.



“We have one-party states in Oldham where there’s only been one party effectively for the last 50-60 years — the same goes for most Tory areas.



“I think it’s unhealthy if you just have a one-party state. I think it’s really important that you have competition.”



When asked about the big issues facing the people of Oldham, Mr Bickley pointed to immigration.



He said: “People are fundamentally concerned about uncontrolled immigration. Lots of people look at the things that affect them and the impact uncontrolled immigration has on school places, hospital beds, transport and housing.



“No party other than UKIP is willing to do something about controlling our borders and controlling the immigration system.



“We want an Australian type of immigration system where anyone can come here from around the world — so we’re actually very pro-immigration — but it has to be controlled rather than just allowing anyone to come here from Europe.



“Immigration was a massive issue in Heywood and Middleton and it’s an issue here.”



In an interview with the Evening Chronicle earlier this month, Mr Bickley expressed concern with the ongoing £36.7million project to transform the old town hall into a cinema.



Mr Bickley said: “I have had constituents come up to me and say I’m not very happy John that you said we don’t need a multiplex and I say do you realise you’re paying for it? You’re paying for it, this is not a free lunch, it’s coming out of your taxes.



“I was concerned about the amount of money going into this town hall renovation. Originally it was supposed to be £10million, it’s now £36million and counting.



“The reason I picked up on this is that I used to work in the film business. The film industry, in terms of cinema attendances, is in decline — they’re going down. This is not a growth industry, you don’t need to be a rocket scientist because everybody’s getting broadband and everybody’s streaming content and everybody’s buying blu-rays and DVDs.



“The jobs that we’re told the council claim they’re going to generate are going to be zero-hours contract in many cases. Jobs that will probably require tax credits. Are these the only sort of jobs the council thinks should come here? Is that the limit of their vision?



“They should be ensuring frontline services are working. That’s what a council exists for.” Approximately 8,000 families in Oldham West and Royton receive tax credits — something the Government intends to cut.



UKIP supports the cuts but wants to see them phased out rather than an immediate slice.



Mr Bickley said: “Gordon Brown and the Labour government brought in tax credits and told us that it would only cost £1billion a year, they’ve mushroomed to over £30billion a year.



“Something has to be done about it. If I come into this country from Europe and I earn £12,000 a year and have two kids I can earn another £9,000 in tax credits.



Benefits



“It’s a magnet and I don’t blame anyone wanting to come here. I would do the same. I’d be the first to come here on a bus from Eastern Europe with benefits system we have but we’re paying for it through our taxes and the working class people around here have found that their wages have been compressed through the last decade.



“Often they’ve had to compete for the jobs that have now been given to immigrants.



“We want to see tax credits realigned as the living wage comes in so the net effect it that people won’t be worse off and I have to say if you control immigration you are making more jobs available for British people.



“Tax credits are only there because employers have been able to get away with paying very low wages because the Government are picking up the tab.”



In an interview with the the Chronicle last week, Labour candidate Jim McMahon referred to Mr Bickley as a “very poor” choice.



He said: “I’ve been led to believe that Mr McMahon is quite a bright chap. If that’s the limit of his ability to engage with the opposition I think it says a lot about Mr McMahon.



“It would be quite good if he had the ability to put forward some arguments to me.”



On the wider issue of the voting system in this country, Mr Bickley pointed to May’s General Election where UKIP garnered four million votes, yet only came out with one MP.



“I think our voting system now — first past the post — is no longer fit for purpose,” he added.



“At the General Election, we got four million votes and ended up with one MP. The SNP and the Lib-Dems got a similar number of votes but 64 MPs. So that cannot be a proper reflection of democracy and we’re fighting that corner.”



Vote



Mr Bickley concluded with why he thinks the people of Oldham West and Royton should vote for him.



He said: “I would like the voters in this constituency to realise that UKIP is a party that wants to back Britain, believes in Britain, believes in control of our borders and believes our laws should be made by our parliament.



“I would see it as an honour to represent them and would represent them, not my party, in parliament and would do everything I can to get our country back and get our country to be sovereign again where MPs who represent them make laws on behalf of their constituents and are then held accountable for doing so.”