Detailed results for Sherburn-in-Elmet can be seen at: http://www.northyorks.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=22844

As the UKIP candidate, I received 21.3% of the vote. These came from a mixture of former Conservative voters, former Labour voters and also people who told me they don’t usually vote at all. With UKIP being completely new to Sherburn-in-Elmet, and indeed Selby as a whole, I am very happy with this result even though it was not enough to win the seat. A Selby branch of UKIP has now been set up and we will be building on the foundation that we now have here moving forward. Thank you to everyone who voted for me and also to the people who kindly helped with leafleting.

Looking at results elsewhere, even after a week long dirty tricks campaign run by the Conservative Party in a frankly desperate attempt to smear UKIP candidates, we were still able to win approximately 26% of the total votes cast throughout the country. This resulted in us winning a total of 147 council seats. Two of these were on North Yorkshire County Council.

There was also of course the parliamentary by-election in David Milliband’s former constituency of South Shields yesterday where UKIP has come second with 24% of the vote. The Conservatives came a distant third with only 11% and the Lib Dems lost their deposit.

All in all I think it has been a good day for democracy and it is fantastic to see the stranglehold that LibLabCon has held on the country is finally being broken.

UKIP have fielded a total of 48 candidates across North Yorkshire, which is more than the Liberal Democrats who have only managed 35. We have 1727 candidates standing across the UK as a whole.

Many people I spoke to at the meeting expressed a total lack of confidence in the usual LibLabCon options, including many people who have formerly been loyal to one of those parties for years.

Nigel Farage with James Fell, Colin Heath and some of the other North Yorkshire County Council candidates:

Nigel Farage addresses the packed meeting venue:

Andrew Mason, chairman of Church Fenton Parish Council, said: “We are passionate about our rural community. We believe in a green and pleasant land and we will fight for it.”

The Church Fenton Village Action Group campaigning against HS2 have a web site at http://www.churchfentonhs2.org.uk/

I encourage people in Sherburn in Elmet to get involved with this and help out however they can. David Cameron is fanatical about pushing HS2 through despite the strength of public feeling against it.

If you examine the plans for HS2 in detail and look through the government spin, it is clear that the business case is based on false assumptions. In the middle of a financial crisis, it is insane to spend an estimated £32 billion on something that will at best reduce some journey times by a few minutes. We should also remember that government projects have a habit of costing way more than originally planned. The original budget for the London Olympics was £2.4 billion and it actually ended up costing £9.3 billion so the true cost of HS2 could easily end up being far more than the stated £32 billion. Either way, it is a huge waste of money.

The project is also set to cause huge environmental damage to many beautiful parts of the countryside (the parts that aren’t already covered in wind turbines that is).

More details can be found on the Selby District Council web site at http://www.selby.gov.uk/service_main.asp?menuid=2&pageid=353&id=2369

James will be standing as a candidate for the Sherburn in Elmet seat.

“I believe it is essential for local government to be as close as possible to the people that it represents. Funds raised from local council tax-payers should be used to improve services for the residents of Sherburn-in-Elmet”.

James is committed to the following principles.

• Reducing council tax and business rates
• Money for local services, not the European Union
• Cut Council Executives and managers, not front-line services
• Give real decision making to local communities, including the right to call referenda on local issues
• Zero tolerance on crime and anti-social behaviour

The Harrogate meeting will start at 7pm on Monday 8th April 2013 and will be held at the following address:

The Old Swan Hotel
Swan Road
Harrogate
North Yorkshire
HG1 2SR

It is expected to finish before 9pm.

Local people can register on the Sherburn-in-Elmet.com web site for free and then submit articles of local interest to be published on the news page. The site also includes a searchable directory of local businesses, clubs and community organisations as well as a diary of community events.

The old landlord has been “removed” from the premises by the owners and a new tenant will be sought. The new conditions imposed will include the removal of any seating at the front of the premises, the requirement for door staff after 11pm on a weekend and the installation of a quality CCTV system.

Following the hearing Police Inspector Richard Abbott of the Selby Rural Safer Neighbourhood Policing team said “I am very pleased to see this result. It is satisfying to see the owners work with the police and licensing authority to bring about a safer and more pleasant location in which villagers can spend time. Hopefully the new tenant will continue this good work and will wel come the local policing team as an ally”.

The pub has been closed for several weeks whilst a suitable tenant is sought.

Please remain vigilant and keep all doors and windows secure, and be mindful of any suspicious people or activity. If you have any information, please call North Yorkshire Police on 101.

The foster parents in the middle of the row stated that the council had operated “like the mafia” and had even ordered them both to keep silent following taking away the three children from their care.

The leader of UKIP, Nigel Farage commented: “Rotherham metropolitan borough council has many questions to answer, both publicly and privately.”

The council did not apologise to the pair and also declined to release the conclusions of an internal investigation into the case.

Social services also refused to confirm in writing to the foster parents the reason why the children were removed even after being repeatedly asked to do so. The couple believe this was because the council did not want the true explanation for the move to be on record. The wife said they are worried that this lack of precise documentation will leave an “unexplained black mark on their file.”

“They have to look at themselves in the mirror and ask who it is that is prejudiced?” she said. “A normal couple who have fostered for seven years, or themselves who are blinded by political bias?”

Publicly the Council must make absolutely clear the decision-making process in this case, who was responsible for this decision and why. That the couple involved were former Labour voters should give them pause for thought, or do they regard any questions about the level of migration into this country, as Gordon Brown did, as bigotry?

The Education Secretary, Michael Gove, has said that the council’s decision was “indefensible”. However, a senior member of Rotherham council has accused people of “wading in to pass judgement” on the UKIP fostering row without “any real knowledge” of the case. Josephine Burton, a cabinet member at Labour-run Rotherham metropolitan borough council, told a member of the public that she was “disappointed” by coverage of the case.

Mrs Burton told a member of the public: “It may be advisable to wait until you have a better understanding of fostering and the current legislation that surrounds it, before wading in to pass judgement.”

As the Labour-run council launched its own investigation into the matter, Labour leader Ed Miliband said: “What matters is children in Rotherham and elsewhere, and being a member of a political party like UKIP should not be a bar to fostering children. Right-thinking people across the country will think there are thousands of children who need to be looked after, who need fostering, we shouldn’t have the situation where membership of a party like UKIP excludes you from doing that.”

The couple believe Rotherham metropolitan borough council hoped they would “sink into the background” after social workers took the ethnic minority children away because they were members of the UK Independence Party.

The wife said: “These people will just do it again. They came round like the mafia and said we are taking the children because you are members of UKIP. We do feel that they had a hidden agenda. It was in their interests for us to keep quiet. These people thought we would just quietly sink into the background but we are not just going to go away and remain quiet. We have been so badly treated.”

Joyce Thacker should certainly resign, as should any other senior managers who have endorsed this bigoted and discriminatory policy. We are also calling for an independent enquiry on a national scale, to find out the extent to which this is happening elsewhere. From evidence now emerging, it would seem that Rotherham may be the tip of an iceberg of politically-motivated discrimination in children’s services.

District and county councillors who represent us today find that many of the issues they are supposed to discuss and vote upon are now ‘statutory’, and have already been decided by Brussels, even minor local issues.

Personally I’m sick to death of the European Union and think David Cameron was a coward to refuse the people of this country a referendum.