Council's £4,200 twinning trip

TEACHERS and council staff went on a £4,200 taxpayer funded twinning trip, figures obtained by The Silhillian show.

Click the headline or link below to read the rest of this story.

Meriden UKIP hopeful expelled

A UKIP MEP has been kicked out of the party, ending all hope of her standing for the party in Meriden at the General Election.

Nikki Sinclaire has been told she cannot represent UKIP as a West Midlands MEP in the European Parliament.

It comes after she refused to back UKIP’s alliance with ‘extremist’ parties. Parties have to sit in broad groups in the European Parliament.

A statement from UKIP said: “Nikki Sinclaire says that her political views are incompatible with those of some members of the EFD Group in the European parliament, of which the UKIP MEPs form part. So she has been sitting as an unattached MEP since 18th January 2010.

“She has also proved unable to collaborate adequately with the voluntary party in the United Kingdom, particularly with the regional committee in the West Midlands.

“The national executive committee has therefore removed the whip; Nikki Sinclaire may no longer describe herself as a UKIP MEP, and she may not stand as a UKIP candidate in the forthcoming General Election.”

On her blog, the MEP said she there had been no disciplinary procedure.

She said: “With only eight weeks before a General Election I find it absolutely amazing that the Party decided to open a sore wound rather than fight the real enemy.”

She had hoped to contest Conservative MP Caroline Spelman at the General Election.

What do you think? Leave your comments below. No registration required.

Click here to get stories by email.

UKIP hopeful lashes out

A UK Independence Party politician has deepened a row with her party that saw her axed as its MP candidate for Meriden.

In a posting on her website, Nikki Sinclaire attacks UKIP for aligning itself with ‘extremist’ groups in the European parliament.

The MEP left the ‘Europe of Freedom and Democracy Group’ last week, leading UKIP to ban her from standing for any more elections.

Political parties join other parties in the Parliament which share similar views.

She hoped to fight Conservative Meriden MP Caroline Spelman at the ballot box in this year’s genera; election.

Miss Sinclaire wrote of EFD: “The group contains parties who have a variety of extremist views which includes racism, anti-Semitism and violence.”

EFD did not want Britain to withdrawn from the EU, conflicting with UKIP policy, she said.

And she wrote: “Neither the public nor most journalists have ever heard of EFD. Our media coverage results from what UKIP, its MEPs and campaigners do and say.”

Last week UKIP national executive committee chairman Paul Nuttall said EDF ‘is the only true Eurosceptic grouping in the European Parliament’.

He said: “All UKIP candidates signed a declaration that they would agree to join the Group, and pool our resources in order to continue our fight against the European Union. Nikki Sinclaire has dishonoured that pledge.”

What do you think? Leave your comments below. No registration required.

Click here to get stories by email.