Back in 2002, I wrote a piece that ended up in my book “A Declaration of Independence”. Somewhere in the depths of this piece, I made a reference to the repatriation of immigrants.
Did I propose compulsory repatriation? No, I did not. Did I advocate voluntary repatriation? No, I did not. So what did I say? I merely expressed my surprise at the strident attacks from some politicians at the time on the very idea of voluntary repatriation, as though this were self-evident wickedness. It seems to me that if an immigrant desires to be repatriated, and we choose to help him, that is an act of kindness and compassion. I don’t advocate it as a policy. But equally, I can’t see why the idea is, in and of itself, wicked.
However the Observer newspaper takes a different view. They have had (I assume) a team of researchers reading everything I have ever written, and looking for lines of attack. Well done them. I hope they learned a few things. But they came up with the repatriation quote, and used it as a basis for a shock-horror story under the title: “Ukip shock over by-election candidate who backed voluntary repatriation”.
Well. There’s a thing. I get the full alarmist treatment merely for questioning why some politicians attack the concept of voluntary repatriation in strident terms. But the EU itself actually has a policy of voluntary repatriation of immigrants. There is a European Return Fund with a budget of €130m/year, designed to pay for voluntary repatriation. The UK signed up to this in 1999 under Blair with the Voluntary Assisted Return & Repatriation Programme, or VARRP, which is administered on behalf of the British government in the UK by the charity Refugee Action. Its role is to pay for the voluntary repatriation of legal migrants.
There’s more. Up until 2010, there was also the AVRIM programme, or Assisted Voluntary Return of Irregular Migrants, funded by the Home Office, which dealt with illegal immigrants. http://www.choices-avr.org.uk/choices/avrim
The Observer adds, for good measure, and in a deliberate and malicious attempted smear, that the only party previously to support voluntary repatriation was the BNP. They omit to mention that the Blair government and the European Commission also supported, and funded, voluntary repatriation.
So. The Blair government signed up to a major scheme for voluntary repatriation. The EU funds a voluntary repatriation programme with €130 million a year of our money. The Observer has nothing to say about that. But they maliciously attack a UKIP MEP merely for questioning why some commentators were so critical of such a programme. This is further evidence of the massive and hypocritical propaganda machine deployed by some mainstream media outlets, and of course by the legacy parties, as they panic in the face of UKIP’s poll ratings. It also helps to explain why voters on the streets of Newark today were telling me that they understand the media attacks on UKIP. They know why it’s happening. They see through it. And they don’t believe a word of it.
Roger Helmer MEP 
Exactly, the voters, well many of them, are SEEING through the weak, failing smear attempts. Its all going rather well. At last.
You know Roger, we have seen leaflets fall through our letterboxes recently, from a nasty little group calling itself ‘hope not hate’, and just like the Observer, the Times, Labour, and the Lib Dems et al, it is attempting to spread fear and misinformation about Ukip, and warning the electorate not to vote for the party. The irony is of course, that the only hope comes with Ukip, while the hate and scaremongering comes from those attacking us in their underhand and anti democratic ways. Hope will prevail
I’m not surprised at anything the Internationalist bigots try. They invented the ends justifying the means quotation, and lie through their back teeth to score any point.
I attended the BBC organised hustings at the Cornwall County Hall this last week, on one side we have Liberal, Conservative, and Greenies all banging on about the immaculately conceived European Union and chaotic climate changes. The English Democrats, British National Party, Ukip and a strange ukip lookalike party debated very reasonable arguments. The audience left no doubts as to what they demanded, and it was open hostility to all the EU State supporters. The Conservatives offering of another Ca-moron cast iron referendum promise was almost booed. We heard all the threats of lost jobs and EU grants that came to Cornwall. Well if the Heart Lands Project is the best they can manage a rates reduction would be better value for us tax payers. Heart Lands is an EU funded unmitigated monstrosity hated by the locals.
Talking to the Greenie candidate afterwards she admitted to no science education at all, no Phd, not even a or o levels, not even taught at her school. However I was reassured that the Greenie candidates had all done science, and that I just didn’t understand.
Roll on the polling.
I love reading your posts, Brin. You rightly criticise others for the nastiness of their personal attacks on UKIP, but then, inexplicably, you grasp defeat from the jaws of victory by declaring those who disagree with you as being ‘internationalist bigots’ and refer to the prime minister as ‘Ca-moron’.
Sort of devalues your previous, very laudable, message.
I just say it as I perceive it. Do you understand the International movement and their aims and foundations?
Can you say hand on heart that our prime minister David Cameron is an honest, decent and truthful person?
Memories are made of this. How jolly clever of these so called Reporters and their Researchers. This kind of mud doesn’t stick, so why waste their time? It will not make a jot of difference to the way voters will make their choice on May 22nd, not will it matter to the constituents of Lincolnshire when they elect you to Westminster, so best wishes for you Roger, more power to you elbow!
I hope their negative campaigning backfires on them big time.
And I hope the voters are wise enough to spot the LibLabCon influence in the media.
The LLC are intellectually backrupt and negative campaigning is all they have left, they have nothing positive to contribute.
In India they have had a political sea change, let’s hope that the British have sufficient resolve to follow suit.
Never let the facts come in the way of a good propaganda smear.
Apparently the motto of the state funded media in Britain (counting the Guardian/Observer as such because ad fund most newspapers and anybody looking at them can see most of their ads come from government and its sockpuppets.
However in the 2nd claim they seem to have gone, possibly through ignorance, over the line into easily provable lies and the Press council should be notified. Granted the PC aren’t exactly honest now but n judge wishes to be seen as corrupt while under public scrutiny.
Roger, you HAVE to fight these smears….. and not just on your blog. Because mud sticks….. and people are listening to the likes of the Sun newspaper and thinking that you are some kind of crackpot homophobe (even if they agree with you).
The smears and vitriol are getting beyond a joke, and I dont believe that many people listen to this stuff. But you have to fight back.
All the best. I have already voted for UKIP in the euros, and would vote for you if I had a vote in Newark.
While the past seems to be being dug up by the hand wringers of the MSM. There was this in Germany a good while back (60’s/70’s)
After the reunification, Germany offered guest workers (Gastarbeiter) $2,000 and a ticket home if they left.
Anything new happening? Yes…we have been disabled as regards border control.
A Dutchmans filmakers view on the EU – not Gert Wilders. Its about an hour long.
The Observer used to attack me personally when I was a HM Govt employee and implementing Govt policy. A rag of a paper with some very unpleasant people. Glad decent folk are seeing through its distortions.
1. The pig ignorance of all the press in this country on the all important EU – and I include the BBC and top broadsheets in that too – is astounding. Jeremy Paxman was fascinated when the EU portavox said that all decisions about movement of people was already settled by the EU. And all this girlie name calling and silliness ought to be kept in the ladies’ washroom where it belongs.
2. I have something to do with immigrants here in Wisbech. Some of the people we deal with really need to go home and we pay for them. They actually weep as they leave because they are failures, but they are grateful. Wouldn’t you be?
I think it is clearly wrong and irresponsible to actively encourage people to job migrate and then not pay for them to return on failure. EU fools again!
I remember something similar in the days of free staff travel by British Airways. Worked well for me, until a fair number of Heathrow staff went to New York (and elsewhere) without sufficient funds. BA stopped free staff travel abruptly, having to pick up the costs/flak – blanket effect again!
Two UKIP votes were cast here today.
EU +3 UKIP and council +3 UKIP here (W. Mids)
The indigenous people are being ethnically cleansed at an alarming rate ,many seeking refuge overseas , is it not wrong to drive people from their own land?
Roger’s a good candidate. The more people call you a bigot, a racist and a homophobe, the more you know you’re on the right lines. Stand up for the right to defend our borders, make our own laws, keep our own currency, defend marriage and the family from looney Conchita Wursts and tell Brussels to go to hell.
Oh yes and please bring back Section 28.